THOUGHTS 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION 

BEING 

A  DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED    TO    A 

CONVENTION   OF   TEACHERS 

IN  LEXINGTON,  KY. 
ON    THE    6th    &    7th    op   NOV.    1833. 


By  CHARLES  CALDWELL,  M.  D. 


BOSTON: 

MARSH,  CAPEN  «feLYON, 

1834. 


Entered  according  to  Act   of  Congress,  in  the  year  1834,  by 

Marsh,  Capen  &  Lyon, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office   of  the   Dis.  Court  of  the  Dis.  of  Mass. 


r  BOSTON:  ) 

)  JjLMES  B.  Dow,  Printer,  > 
t      122  Washington-8t.      > 


Ji 


,f 


PREFACE. 


The  following  production  being  too  long  for  a 
Discourse,  and  too  short  for  a  Treatise,  and  possess- 
ing neither  the  style  nor  manner  of  an  Essay,  is  a 
sort  of  nondescript  in  form,  and  by  a  certain  class  of 
readers,  will  perhaps,  at  first  sight,  be  considered  no 
less  so,  in  some  of  the  sentiments  it  contains.  Should 
it  be  favored,  however,  with  an  attentive  perusal,  and 
a  few  second  and  serious  thoughts,  it  is  hoped  that  a 
more  familiar  acquaintance  with  it,  will  wear  off  any 
disagreeable  effects,  that  first  impressions  may  have 
produced. 

The  author  was  induced  to  prepare  and  deliver  it, 
and  has  been  led  to  print  it,  for  sundry  reasons.  He 
was  requested  to  do  so,  and  did  not  think  it  kind  or 
complaisant  to  refuse-^-the  subject  is  one  of  great 
importance,  involving  the  highest  perfection  and 
earthly  happiness  that  man  can  attain,  to  say  nothing 
of  its  bearing  on  his  future  condition — and  it  has 
rarely  if  ever,  been  treated  on  the  ground,  and  under 
the  extent  of  principle,  that  justly  belong  to  it.  But 
the  chief  reason  for  publishing  the  work,  was  a  belief 
that  it  contains  a  few  seminal  truths,  not  generally 
known,  which,  when  fully  developed,  and  reduced 
to  practice,  will  lead  to  results  of  much  usefulness,  in 
the  work  of  education. 


-^^4GU 


4         *  PREFACE. 

The  subject  is  treated  altogether  physiologically. 
And  that  such  is  the  nature  of  education,  cannot  be 
denied.  Every  change  it  produces  in  those  who  are 
made  the  subject  of  it,  are  strictly  physiological. 
This  is  as  true  of  moral  and  intellectual,  as  of  phys- 
ical education.  AH  the  beneficial  effects  of  training, 
arise  from  the  improvements  produced  by  it,  in.  or- 
ganized matter,  rendering  such  matter,  whether  it  be 
brain,  nerve,  muscle,  lungs,  or  of  any  other  descrip- 
tion, a  better  piece  of  machinery,  for  mind  to  work 
with.  A  knowledge  of  these  truths  is  peculiarly  im- 
portant, as  they  show  the  essential  connexion  between 
mind  and  matter,  and  make  it  clearly  appear,  that, 
for  its  sound  and  vigorous  operations,  the  former  de- 
pends on  the  condition  of  the  latter.  Hence  the  im- 
portance of  a  strict  attention  to  the  health  of  pupils, 
even  independently  of  their  corporeal  suffering  from 
disease.  Their  mental  character  is  no  less  concerned 
in  the  issue. 

Let  no  one  allege  that  this  view  of  education  in- 
volves materialism,  or  any  principle,  unfriendly  to 
morality  or  religion.  The  charge  would  be  most 
unjust.  The  entire  subserviency  of  matter  to  mind 
is  acknowledged  in  it ;  and  that  is  all  that  the  doc- 
trine of  spirituality  can  require.  It  must  not  claim 
10  take  from  matter  the  rank  and  attributes  conferred 
on  it  by  its  Creator.  But  for  a  fitter  discussion 
of  these  topics,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  work 
itself,  which,  without  further  remark,  is  respectfully 
submitted  to  his  unprejudiced  judgment. 


^ 


THOUGHTS 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION; 


Gentlemen : 


ERRATA. 

Preface,  p.  4.  fourth  line  from  the  bottom,  for  *  fitter »  KoAfidUr. 

Page  13,  bottom  line,  for  '  section  '  read  sections. 

Page  34,  top  line,  for  *  London '  read  Landau. 

Page  37, 13th  line  from  bottom,  for  '  intervello '  read  intervallo.  ■ 

Page  49, 11th  line  from  top,  for  *  toi-m  books  '  read  horn-books. 

Page  52,  13th  line  from  top,  for  '  men '  read  man. 

Page  58, 9th  line  from  top,  for  '  agriculturalist '  read  amriculturiBt. 

Page  84, 16th  line  from  top,  for  '  irritable '  read  britame. 

Page  98,  14th  line  from  lop,  for  *  began '  read  begun. 

Page  103,  11th  line  from  bottom,  for  '  arteriolization  *  read  acterializatioru 

Page  "    3d  line  from  bottom,  for  *  adjutants '  read  adjuvants. 

Page  106, 9th  line  from  bottom,  for  *  with  the  stomach  'Tead  of  the  stomach. 

Page  109,  13th  line  from  top,  for  '  sinks  '  read  sink. 

Togo  119, 5th  line  from  top,  for  *  homopthisis  '  read  hamopthisia. 

Fage  120, 13th  line  from  top,  for  '  forbids  '  Tead  forbid. 

Page  127, 2d  line  from  top,  after  unless  read  the. 

Page  129, 3d  line  from  top,  for  'in  contradiction  with'  read  ineontradieiUm  of. 

Page  133,  top  line,  after  viscera  should  stand  acomTna,  not  a.  period. 

Page  "    10th  line  from  bottom,  for  *  prematurely '  read  pretematurally. 


icicu  sinie  01  parties,  differing  in  their  views  of  men 
and  measures,  and  the  growing  discontents  of  geo- 
graphical section,*  seriously  threaten  the  repose  of 

*  This  Discourse  was  written  at  the  time  when  the  spirit  of 
NULLIFICATION  in  the  south,  was  at  its  height. 

2 


4  PREFACE. 

The  subject  is  treated  altogether  physiologically. 
And  that  such  is  the  nature  of  education,  cannot  be 
denied.  Every  change  it  produces  in  those  who  are 
made  the  subject  of  it,  are  strictly  physiological. 
This  is  as  true  of  moral  and  intellectual,  as  of  phys- 
ical education.  All  the  beneficial  effects  of  training, 
arise  from  the  improvements  produced  by  it,  in,  or- 
ganized matter,  rendering  such  matter,  whether  it  be 
brain,  nerve,  muscle,  lungs,  or  of  any  other  descrip- 
tion, a  better  piece  of  machinery,  for  mind  to  work 
wifh.      A  knowledge  of  these  truths  is  peculiarly  im- 


On    11    Oy    us     V^'KJP.AIUJK,.  JL»ul     avx      M.     »*vvv,*       

of  these  topics,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  work 
itself,  which,  without  further  remark,  is  respectfully 
submitted  to  his  unprejudiced  judgment. 


^ 


THOUGHTS 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION; 


Gentlemen : 
It  would  be  not  only  a  departure  from  the  ob- 
ject that  has  called  you  together,  but  objectionable 
in  itself,  and  injurious  in  its  effects,  to  introduce  into 
the  exercises  of  the  present  occasion  the  slightest 
allusion  to  matters  of  party.  Nor  would  any  one 
more  reluctantly  than  myself  be  guilty  of  such  a 
fault.  Let  me  hope,  however,  that,  without  furnish- 
ing ground  for  axharge  against  me  to  that  effect,  or 
awakening  in  the  i^i^d  of  any  one,  who  hears  me, 
an  unfriendly  feeling,  or  an  opposing  thought,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  observe,  that  the  aspect  of  our 
country,  political  as  well  as  social,  is  gloomy  and 
portentous.  And  when  we  turn  from  the  present  to 
the  future,  the  prospect  presents  but  little  to  cheer 
us,  unless  a  change,  to  be  presently  specified,  can 
be  produced  in  the  public  mind.  While  the  embit- 
tered strife  of  parties,  differing  in  their  views  of  men 
and  measures,  and  the  growing  discontents  of  geo- 
graphical section,*  seriously  threaten  the  repose  of 

*  This  Discourse  was  written  at  the  time  when  the  spirit  of 
NULLIFICATION  in  the  south,  was  at  its  height. 

2 


14  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  country,  not  to  say  the  integrity  of  the  Union, — 
the  poison  spread  abroad  by  malice  and  falsehood, 
through  the  public  prints,  is  tainting  the  community 
with  moral  corruption.  So  deep  and  pestilent  is 
this  fountain,  and  so  broad  and  destructive  to  sound- 
ness of  principle,  as  well  as  to  the  love  and  diffusion 
of  truth,  the  stream  that  issues  from  it,  as  to  render 
it  perhaps  more  than  doubtful,  whether,  perverted 
as  it  is  to  the  vilest  of  purposes,  the  freedom  of  the 
press  be  a  good  or  an  evil.  If  men  be  too  corrupt 
and  vicious,  to  refrain,  of  their  own  accord,  from 
practices  disgraceful  in  themselves,  and  ruinous  to 
their  country,  T  am  far  from  being  convinced  that 
they  ought  not  to  be  debarred  from  them,  by  public 
authority. 

Every  excess  is  an  evil ;  and  that  of  the  liberty 
of  the  press,  which,  turned  to  licentiousness,  de- 
fames, misleads,  inflames,  and  demoralizes,  is  among 
the  most  deplorable.  Were  any  one  to  pronounce 
the  sentiment  here  advanced,  to  be  unfriendly  to  the 
doctrines  of  republican  government,  my  reply  would 
be,  that  it  is  not  unfriendly  to  morality  or  Christian- 
ity, but  concurrent  with  both.  Nor  is  it  less  so 
with  the  spirit  of  genuine  republicanism,  which 
embraces  and  upholds  the  general  good,  and  is 
therefore  hostile  to  the  corruption,  fraud,  and  false- 
hood, to  which  too  many  of  our  public  presses  un- 
blushingly  minister. 

For  this  condition  of  things,  stored  with  the  ele- 
ments of  such  fearful  calamity,  there  is  but  one 
remedy — the  advancement  of  the  people  in  intelli- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  15 

gence  and  virtue,  I  say  *  advancement ;'  for  there 
is  reason  to  apprehend,  that  the  stock  of  those  attri- 
butes, now  possessed  by  us,  is  too  limited  for  the 
work  to  be  performed  by  them, — the  eradication  of 
existing,  and  the  prevention  of  future  and  more 
grievous  evils.  It  is  to  the  improved  mental  char- 
acter of  the  rising  generation,  and  those  who  shall 
succeed  them,  beyond  that  of  the  generation  now  at 
maturity,  that  our  hopes  can  attach  themselves,  with 
any  reasonable  prospect  of  being  realized.  On  the 
redeeming  influence  of  such  improvement,  alone, 
can  the  American  people  safely  and  confidently 
rely,  for  the  attainment  of  that  degree  of  national 
prosperity,  greatness,  a:nd  glory,  and  that  amount  of 
individual  happiness,  which  is  placed  within  their 
reach,  if  they  do  not  neglect  or  abuse  their  privi- 
leges. 

Two  questions  of  moment  here  present  them- 
selves. Is  the  amendment  referred  to,  within  our 
reach  ?  and,  if  so,  What  are  the  means  by  which  it 
may  be  compassed  ?  I  answer.  Yes  :  the  end  can  be 
attained  ;  and  an  improved  education  constitutes  the 
means.  To  represent  it  fairly,  and  recommend  it  to 
the  acceptance  and  encouragement  it  deserves,  I 
may  safely  add,  that  it  is  the  only  means.  To  rely 
on  any  other,  would  be  a  deadly  fallacy.  By  that 
alone  can  our  safety  be  secured.  And  by  that  it 
can  be  secured,  provided  we  avail  ourselves  of  it,  as 
wisdom  dictates,  and  duty  enjoins.  But  we  must 
avail  ourselves  of  it  promptly,  else  the  opportunity 
may  be  lost  to  us  forever.     It  is  not  only  *  in  the 


16  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

afiairs  of  mew,'  that  *  there  is  a  tide,  which,  taken 
at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune.'  The  same  is  no. 
less  true  of  nations.  And  1  may  truly  add,  ^  On 
such  a  full  sea  are  we  now  afloat ;  and  we  must  take 
the  current,  as  it  serves,  or  lose  our  venture.' 

The  influence  of  education,  on  the  condition  of 
our  country,  were  it  judiciously  conducted,  and  gen- 
erally diffused,  would  be  irresistible  ;  and  its  issue 
would  be  precisely  the  improvement  we  require. 
Not  only  would  the  people  receive  from  it  the  intel- 
ligence necessary  to  guide  them  in  public  affairs  ; 
they  would  be  improved  by  it  in  their  entire  charac- 
ter^ moral  and  social,  intellectual  and  political,  and 
enabled  the  better  to  control  their  passions,  and  give 
them  a  safe  and  useful  direction.  Prepared  to  per- 
ceive the  public  good  with  greater  clearness,  and  to 
pursue  it  with  purer  intentions,  and  a  steadier  aim, 
they  would  be  less  susceptible  of  the  rage  and  sway 
of  party,  and  more  effectually  guarded  against  the 
machinations  of  unprincipled  demagogues  and  aspir- 
ants to  power,  who  might  wish  to  mislead  them,  for 
the  promotion  of  their  own  selfish  and  sinister  pur- 
poses. Thus  would  the  nation  become  a  nursery  of 
abler  statesmen  and  more  virtuous  patriots,  and  have 
its  highest  interests  more  certainly  secured. 

Fortunately  for  our  country,  these  sentiments  are 
not  new ;  nor  are  they  limited,  as  respects  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  entertain  them.  They  are  taking 
root  in  the  public  mind,  with  the  most  gratifying  ra- 
pidity, and  promise  to  be  productive  of  invaluable 
fruit.     There  is  reason  to  hope,  that,  as  the  issue  of 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  17 

them,  education  will  be  no  longer  neglected  in  the 
United  States,  but  improved  and  extended,  in  pro- 
portion to  our  demand  for  it.  Already  is  the  inter- 
est awakened  in  favor  of  it,  broad  and  deep  ;  and  it 
is  beginning  to  be  regarded  in  its  true  character,  as 
constituting  not  only  the  corner-stone,  but  the  foun- 
dation and  cement  of  civil  society.  Already  is  it 
beginning  to  be  looked  to,  as  alone  calculated  to 
rescue  human  nature  from  the  dominion  of  animal 
propensity  and  passion,  and  to  bestow  on  it  the  high- 
est perfection  of  which  it  is  susceptible.  Uneduca- 
ted whites,  and  the  roving  children  of  the  forest  will 
soon  be  considered,  and  justly  so,  as  occupying 
nearly  the  same  level  in  the  scale  of  being.  Nor  is 
this  all.  There  is  cause  to  believe,  that  the  period 
is  approaching,  when  to  be  wholly  uneducated  will 
be  held  dishonorable  and  out  of  fashion  ;  and  that 
will  do  much  to  complete  the  spread  and  triumph  of 
education.  As  respects  the  points,  on  which  they 
bear,  honor  and  fashion  are  everywhere  despotic. 

That  these  views  are  not  fallacious,  but  that  the 
salutary  change  referred  to  is  in  progress,  appears 
from  an  abundance  of  concurrent  testimony.  The 
meeting  of  the  Convention  I  have  the  honor  of 
addressing,  testifies  strongly  to  that  effect.  So  do 
many  other  facts,  which  might  be  easily  cited. 
Teachers,  of  every  rank  in  their  profession,  are  not 
only  better  rewarded,  but  held  in  higher  estimation 
than  formerly.  It  is  no  longer  true,  as  it  once  was, 
that  persons  unfit  for  any  thing  else,  on  account  of 
indolence,  infirmity,  or  some  other  disqualification, 
2# 


18  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION'. 

are  employed,  as  instructers.  Men  of  character  and 
competency  alone,  are  now  considered  worthy  of  the 
trust.  Already  is  this  the  case,  in  many  parts  of  our 
country,  and  promises  soon  to  be  so  in  all  of  them. 
Annals,  Journals,  and  Libraries  are  established,  Ly- 
ceums are  opened,  Institutes  erected,  Associations 
formed,  Essays  published.  Sermons  preached.  Con- 
ventions held,  and  Discourses  delivered,  for  the 
advancement  of  education.  Those  measures  are 
calculated  to  form,  foster,  and  diffuse  a  taste  for  it, 
excite  ambition  in  it,  and,  rendering  it  popular,  in- 
sure its  success.  For  popularity,  whether  it  attach 
to  projects  fitted  for  good  or  for  evil,  is  a  current 
which  nothing  can  withstand  ;  and  fortunately,  in  the 
present  instance,  it  sets  in  the  right  direction.  In 
fine,  a  large  portion  of  the  talent  of  America,  being, 
in  some  way,  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  education,  and 
the  general  bent  of  society  concurring  with  it,  an 
effort  so  powerful  and  well  directed,  can  scarcely 
fail  to  produce  an  era  in  the  annals  of  our  country, 
Aiiemorable  alike  for  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowl- 
eage,  and  the  advancement  of  human  happiness.  In 
the  vocabulary  of  such  numbers,  united  and*  reso- 
lute, intelligent  and  persevering,  there  is  no  suitable 
place  for  the  terms  impossibility^  failure,  or  defeat. 
To  confederacies  of  the  kind,  all  things,  within  the 
scope  of  human  means,  become  practicable  and 
easy.- — But  my  business  is,  not  to  speak  of  educa- 
tion, in  the  abstract,  but  to  offer  a  few  remarks  on 
one  of  its  branches.  To  that  task,  I  shall  now  pro- 
ceed. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  19 

That  I  may  the  more  easily  and  certainly  be  un- 
derstood, however,  in  my  subsequent  exposition  of 
it,  allow  me  first  to  make  a  few  observations  explan- 
atory of  what  I  mean,  by  the  term  education^  as  my 
understanding  of  it  may  differ,  perhaps,  in  some  de- 
gree, from  yours.  Any  theoretical  difference,  how- 
ever, that  may  exist  between  us,  on  this  point,  will 
have  no  influence  in  creating  a  practical  one,  on 
others  of  more  immediate  usefulness. 

Let  me  here  apprise  you,  that,  in  giving  my  defi- 
nition, I  must  speak  phrenologically.  As  education 
relates  .to  the  operations  of  mind,  as  well  as  of  body, 
it  must  be  considered  and  presented,  as  well  sum- 
marily as  in  detail,  with  a  reference  to  some  system 
of  mental  philosophy.  But  of  all  the  systems  I  have 
examined,  (and  I  have  looked  carefully  into  several 
of  them,)  that  of  Gall  and  Spurzheim  is  the  only 
one  I  can  either  believe  or  understand.  As  soon 
would  I  bind  myself  to  discover  the  philosopher's 
stone,  or  to  concoct  the  elixir  of  life  out  of  simples, 
as  to  find  substantial  meaning  in  many  of  the  tenets 
of  fashionable  metaphysics.  Indeed,  the  dreams  of 
alchymists,  and  not  a  few  of  those  of  metaphysicians 
liave  a  strong  family-likeness.  And  well  they  may. 
They  are  the  twin-brood  of  common  parents.  Error 
and  Superstition,  and  were  ushered  to  life  during  the 
Dark  Ages.  These  are  my  reasons  for  speaking  in 
conformity  to  phrenological  principles,  in  the  defini- 
tion 1  am  about  to  offer. 

By  education,  in  the  abstract,  I  mean  a  scheme 
of  action,  or  training,  by  which  any  form  of  living 


20  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

matter  may  be  improved,  and,  by  perseverance, 
reared  to  the  highest  perfection  of  which  it  is  sus- 
ceptible. I  say,  '  any  form  ;'  because  the  lower  or- 
ders of  living  beings,  vegetables  not  excepted,  may 
be  educated  and  improved,  as  certainly  as  the  high- 
er, and  on  the  same  grounds.  That  it  may  produce 
the  desired  effect,  the  scheme  pursued,  must  con- 
form to  the  constitution  of  the  race  of  beings,  for 
whose  improvement  it  is  intended  ;  and,  in  the  pres- 
ent instance,  that  race  is  our  own.  No  one,  there- 
fore, is  capable  of  devising  and  arranging  such  a 
scheme,  for  the  amendment  of  the  general  condition 
of  man,  nor  even  of  comprehending  and  skilfully  ap- 
plying it,  unless  he  be  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
his  constitution.  Hence,  without  such  an  acquaint- 
ance, it  is  impossible  to  become  an  able  and  suc- 
cessful instructer.  He  that  would  rectify  or  improve 
a  piece  of  machinery,  must  first  understand  it,  in  its 
structure  and  principles.  Under  the  want  of  such  a 
knowledge  of  it,  to  touch  it,  is  to  impair  it :  except 
it  be  saved  by  the  intervention  of  accident.  In  like 
manner,  he  that  would  alter  human  nature  for  the 
better,  must  know  it,  as  it  is.  Special  education, 
designed  for  a  given  purpose,  is  a  scheme  of  training 
in  accordance  with  that  purpose.  I  need  scarcely 
add,  that  general  training  does  nothing  more  than 
improve  general  powers ;  while  special  ^training  fits 
for  some  definite  and  corresponding  pursuit. 

By  the  constitution  of  man,  as  just  referred  to,  I 
mean  his  material  portion,  in  its  organized  and  vital 
capacity,  that  being,  as  I  feel  persuaded,  the  only 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  21 

part  of  him,  we  are  able  to  improve.  The  mind 
being  a  spirit,  whose  nature  and  qualities,  as  spirit, 
are  concealed  from  us,  and  with  which  none  of  our 
faculties  are  fitted  to  make  us  acquainted,  we  do  not 
possess  any  means,  nor  can  we  conceive  of  any, 
calculated  to  produce  in  it  either  amendment  or 
change.  Its  subtle  and  inscrutable  character  places 
it  beyond  our  action  and  influence.  Nor,  as  will 
appear  hereafter,  does  the  work  of  education  require 
it  to  be  changed.  It  only  calls  for  an  amendment 
of  the  instruments,  with  which  it  works.  So  exalted 
is  my  view  of  spirit,  that  I  believe  it  to  be  compe- 
tent, without  any  interference  from  us,  to  the  highest 
actions,  for  which  the  body  is  fitted.  To  amend  it, 
belongs  only  to  Him  who  made  it. 

It  ocniirs  to  me,  that  he  whh  hRlieves  in  his  pOWCr 
to  improve  spirit,  by  making  it  stronger,  larger,  more 
active,  or  in  any  respect  better,  has  a  much  less  ex- 
alted opinion  of  it,  than  he  has  of  himself.  A 
capacity  to  amend,  implies  a  superiority,  in  the 
amender  and  his  machinery,  to  the  thing  he  im- 
proves. But  the  whole  machinery  of  education  is 
material.  To  contend,  then,  that  education  can  im- 
prove the  abstract  mind,  is  to  assert  the  superiority 
of  matter  to  spirit.  This  is  neither  quibble  nor 
sophistry,  but  a  deduction  of  reason,  and  a  dictate  of 
common  sense.  Nor  will  any  thing  but  a  spirit  of 
sophistry  attempt  its  subversion.  Except  the  teach- 
er be  superior  to  the  pupil,  he  cannot  instruct  him. 
Much  less  can  he  do  so,  being  greatly  inferior. 
Spirit,  being  the   superior,  may  modify  and  amend 


O 


22  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

matter ;  but  for  the  converse  of  this  to  be  true,  seems 
impossible. 

The  organized  system  of  man,  constitutes  the 
machinery,  with  which  alone  his  mind  operates,  dur- 
ing their  connexion,  as  soul  and  body.  Improve  the 
apparatus,  then,  and  you  facilitate  and  improve  the 
work,  which  the  mind  performs  with  it,  precisely  as 
you  facilitate  steam-operation,  and  enhance  its  pro- 
duct, by  improving  the  machinery,  with  which  it  is 
executed.  In  one  case,  steam,  and  in  the  other, 
spirit,  continue  unchanged  ;  and  each  works  and 
produces,  with  a  degree  of  perfection,  corresponding 
to  that  of  the  instruments  it  employs. 

As  respects  several  of  the  functions  of  the  mind? 
the  correctness  of  the  foregoing  theory  is  universally 
admitted.  Seeing,  hearing,  tasting,  smplling,  and 
feeling,  as  well  as  voluntary  muscular  motion,  are  as 
true  mental  operations,  as  judging,  reasoning,  remem- 
bering, or  calculation  by  numbers.  And  the  former 
are  as  susceptible  of  improvement,  as  the  latter. 
But  when  improved,  no  one  considers  the  result  as 
consisting  in  any  amendment  of  simple  spirit,  but  of 
compound  organized  matter.  When,  for  example, 
vision  is  improved,  the  amendment  is  uniformly  re- 
ferred to  the  eye,  the  optic  nerve,  and  that  portion 
of  the  brain  immediately  associated  with  them,  they 
being  the  organs,  by  which  the  mind  sees,  and  with- 
out which,  it  cannot  see.  Is  hearing  improved? 
For  the  same  reason,  it  is  not  the  mind,  but  the 
auditory  apparatus  that  is  amended.  Of  the  other 
senses,  the  same  is  true.     If  either  of  them  be  in> 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  23 

proved,  it  is  the  organ  that  is  meliorated  in  its  con- 
dition, not  the  mind  that  uses  it.  Nor  is  this  truth 
less  obvious,  as  respects  the  instruments  of  voluntary 
motion.  The  opera-dancer,  the  tumbler,  and  the 
swordsman,  do  not,  in  acquiring  expertness  in  their 
occupations,  improve  their  minds,  but  their  muscles 
and  joints,  with  the  nerves  and  portions  of  the  brain, 
that  have  the  governance  of  them.  These  positions 
are  so  plain,  that  to  state  them,  is  to  prove  them. 

Respecting  the  higher  mental  operations,  the 
same  may  be  affirmed  with  equal  safety.  In  per- 
forming them,  the  mind  works  with  the  brain  as  its 
machinery,  as  certainly  as  it  does  with  the  eye  in 
seeing,  or  the  muscles  in  dancing  and  swordsman- 
ship. Is  any  form  of  memory, — say  the  memory  of 
words,  or  that  of  places, — rendered  more  apt  and  re- 
tentive, by  judicious  exercise  ?  We  have  no  reason 
to  believe,  that  the  mind  or  spirit  is  amended,  in 
this  instance,  any  more  than  in  those  heretofore 
enumerated.  It  is  a  portion  of  the  brain — the  organ 
of  language  or  locality — that  is  amended.  By 
practice,  man  becomes  more  powerful  and  adroit  in 
reasoning  and  judging.  Here  again  the  mind  is  not 
changed.  The  belief  to  that  effect  has  no  shadow 
of  evidence  to  sustain  it.  The  improvement  in  this 
case,  as  in  the  preceding  ones,  is  confined  to  the 
organs,  with  which  the  mind  reasons  and  judges. 
Arguments,  not  to  be  refuted,  could  be  adduced  in 
favor  of  this  statement,  were  the  discussion  admis- 
sible. Indeed,  for  man  to  claim  the  power  of  opera- 
ting immediately  on  spirit,  and  either  amending  or 


1  '' 


24  PHYSICAL   EDUCATION. 

deteriorating  it,  by  any  means  he  can  employ,  Is  an 
assumption  perfectly  gratuitous,  and,  in  my  opinion, 
not  a  litde  extraordinary  and  arrogant.  It  is  enough 
that  he  is  able  to  change  matter,  and  control  it  to 
his  purposes,  hy  material  agents.  And  all  the 
means  used  in  teaching,  are  material.  There  is 
good  reason  to  believe,  as  already  stated,  that  noth- 
ing short  of  the  creative  v^ill,  that  brought  spirit, 
into  existence,  can  modify  it,  either  for  better  or 
worse.  When  we  wish,  then,  I  say,  to  improve 
mental  operations,  we  have  only  to  amend  the  or- 
gans, which  the  mind  employs  in  performing  them. 
And  it  will  appear  hereafter,  that  this  is  a  proposi- 
tion of  great  importance,  in  the  scheme  of  human 
improvement.  For  no  other  reason  would  I  have 
ventured  to  introduce  it,  on  the  present  occasion, 
aware,  as  I  am,  that  its  correctness  is  not  likely,  at 
first,  to  be  generally  acknowledged  by  you.  Allow 
me,  however,  to  repeat,  that  a  difference  of  opinion, 
on  this  point,  will  have  no  tendency  to  create  a  dif- 
ference on  many  that  are  to  follow.  The  differ- 
ence will  be  in  theory,  not  in  practice. 

Education  is  usually  divided  into  two  branches, 
Physical  and  Moral.  More  correctly  might  it  be 
divided  into  three — Physical,  Moral,  and  Intellectual. 
Nothing  is  more  certain,  than  that  the  Intellectual 
and  the  Moral  powers  may  be  educated  separately  ; 
the  former  being  amended,  while  the  latter  are  not; 
and  the  converse.  Facts  in  proof  of  this  are  abun- 
dant. There  is  as  real  a  distinction  between  moral 
and  intellectual  education,  as  there  is  between  phys- 


PHYSICAL   EDUCATION.  26 

ical  education  and  either  of  them.  It  will  appear, 
however,  presently,  that  they  are  all  three  so  inti- 
mately connected,  that  the  improvement  of  any  one 
of  them  may  be  made  to  contribute  to  that  of  the 
others.  Nor  can  it  be  otherwise,  except  through 
mismanagement.  Moral  action,  intellectual  action, 
and  what,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  I  may  call 
physical  action,  have  their  seats  and  instruments  in 
different  parts  of  the  human  system ;  and  those 
parts  are  essentially  connected  by  sympathy,  and 
other  ties  more  mechanical  and  obvious.  One  of 
them  being  injured  or  benefited,  therefore,  the  oth- 
ers are  affected  in  a  corresponding  manner.  Deriv- 
ing their  being  and  sustenance  from  the  same  source, 
and  serving  as  elements  of  the  same  individual  per- 
son, each  of  whose  parts  is  necessary  to  the  integ- 
rity and  perfection  of  the  whole,  it  would  be  singu- 
lar, were  it  not  so.  To  illustrate  my  meaning,  and 
prove  my  position. 

The  condition  of  the  morals  of  every  individual 
depends  on  the  condition  of  the  moral  organs  of  his 
brain,  the  condition  of  his  intellect  on  that  of  his  in- 
tellectual organs,  and  the  condition  of  his  physical 
powers  on  that  of  the  remaining  portion  of  his  body, 
including  the  cutaneous  system,  the  digestive,  the 
respiratory,  the  circulatory,  the  secretory,  the 
absorbent,  the  muscular,  and  some  others.  And  all 
these  parts  are  so  mutually  dependent,  that  no  one 
of  them  can  be  either  materially  injured  or  benefit- 
ed alone.  More  or  less,  the  others  correspond  to 
the  condition  into  which  it  is  thrown.  Are  the 
3 


26  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

digestive,  the  respiratory,  and  the  circulatory  sys^ 
terns,  or  either  of  them  seriously  deranged,  the  brain 
suffers,  through  all  its  divisions,  for  want  of  a  suffi- 
cient supply  of  good  blood,  to  nourish,  vivify,  and 
strengthen  it.  Is  the  brain  itself  materially  deranged, 
it  is  incompetent  to  prepare,  in  due  quantity,  and  of 
sound  qualities,  its  matter  of  influence^  whatever  that 
may  be,  and  transmit  it  to  the  other  parts  of  the 
system.  They  therefore  suffer  in  turn.  Hence,  I 
repeat,  that  moral  and  intellectual  education,  which 
consists  in  amending  the  condition  of  the  brain,  and 
physical  education,  which  is  the  improvement  of  the 
other  parts  of  the  body,  are  indispensable  to  the  per- 
fection of  each  other,' and,  of  course,  to  that  of  the 
whole  system.  Physical  education  is  to  the  other 
two,  what  the  root,  trunk,  and  branches  of  the  tree 
are  to  its  leaves,  blossoms,  and  fruit.  It  is  the 
source  and  sine  qua  non  of  their  existence.  Injure 
or  improve  it,  and  you  produce  on  them  a  kindred 
effect.  Hence,  physical  education  is  far  more  im- 
portant than  is  commonly  imagined.  Without  a  due 
regard  to  it,  by  which  I  mean  a  stricter  and  more 
judicious  attention  than  is  paid  to  it  at  present,  man 
cannot  attain  the  perfection  of  his  nature.  Ancient 
Greece  might  be  cited,  in  confirmation  of  this.  May 
history  and  other  forms  of  record  be  credited,  the 
people  of  that  country  were,  as  a  nation,  physically 
and  intellectually,  the  most  perfect  of  the  human 
race.  And  there  is  reason  to  believe,  that  their  un- 
rivalled attention  to  physical  education,  was  highly 
influential  in  producing  the  result. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  27 

In  truth,  the  ancient  Persians  and  Greeks,  as  well 
as  some  other  nations  of  antiquity,  appear  to  have 
cultivated  that  form  of  education  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  the  moderns  do.  Nor  were  they  with- 
out their  reasons  for  this.  For  their  standing  in 
war,  in  common  with  their  influence  in  peace,  indi- 
viduals, among  those  people,  were  greatly  indebted 
to  their  personal  strength.  The  cause  of  this  was, 
that  they  were,  in  a. high  degree,  deficient  in  the 
improvements  of  art,  especially  in  their  knowledge 
and  command  of  the  mechanical  powers.  Their 
chief  substitute  for  this  want,  was  their  own  bodily 
powers.  It  was  incumbent  on  them,  therefore,  to 
increase  those  powers,  in  the  highest  practicable  de- 
gree. The  invention  of  gun  powder  has  brought 
the  weak  and  the  strong  to  an  equality  in  war  5  and 
the  improvements  made  in  mechanics,  have  done 
nearly  the  same,  in  relation  to  the  arts  of  peace. 
Hence,  as  respects  the  general  business  of  life,  the 
moderns  have  much  less  necessity  for  personal 
strength,  than  the  ancients  had.  And,  as  mankind 
act  from  motives  of  necessity  and  interest,  much 
more  than  from  those  of  any  other  sort,  physical 
education,  the  chief  source  of  superior  strength  of 
person,  has  been  greatly  neglected,  especially  by  the 
higher  orders  of  society,  for  two  or  three  centuries. 
Knowledge  being  now  the  only  ground  of  great 
power  and  influence,  intellectual  education,  receives, 
at  present,  a  much  more  exclusive  attention  than  it 
formerly  did,  and  much  more  than  comports  with 
the  benefit  of  our  race.     Even  it,  however,  would 


28  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

profit  greatly,  by  an  improved  condition  of  physical 
education. 

This  brings  me  immediately  to  my  task.  Before 
actually  entering  on  it,  however,  suffer  me  to  ob- 
serve, that  if,  instead  of  treating  technically  of  moral, 
intellectual,  and  physical  education,  authors  and  oth- 
ers would  speak  correctly  of  the  education  of  the 
different  portions  of  the  body,  each  portion  being 
trained  according  to  its  organization  and  character, 
they  would  be  more  philosophical  and  intelligible 
than  they  are.  I  am  persuaded  they  would  be  also 
more  instructive.  The  skin,  for  example,  must  be 
educated  by  one  mode  of  discipline,  the  stomach  by 
another,  the  lungs  by  a  third,  the  muscles  and  circu- 
latory system  by  a  fourth,  and  each  external  sense 
and  cerebral  organ  by  a  method  corresponding  to 
the  peculiarity  of  its  nature.  In  this  view  of  the 
subject,  which  is  the  only  rational  one,  the  training 
of  the  brain,  in  all  its  departments,  by  whatever 
name  they  may  be  called,  is  as  truly  a  physical  or 
physiological  process,  as  the  training  of  any  other 
part  of  the  body.  I  shall  not,  however,  out  of  mere 
conformity  to  these  principles,  employ  at  present 
any  new  terms  or  phrases,  as  those  already  in  use 
are  sufficient  for  my  purpose,  and  will  be  better  un- 
derstood, than  such  as  I  might  substitute  for  them. 
It  is  of  physical  education,  then,  in  the  usual  ac- 
ceptation of  the  phrase,  that  I  am  now  to  speaks 

This  process  may  be  defined,  that  scheme  of 
training,  which  contributes  most  effectually  to  the 
development,  health,  and  perfection  of  living  mat-* 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  29 

ler. — As  applied  to  man,  it  is  that  scheme  which 
raises  his  whole  system  to  its  summit  of  perfection. 
In  this  are  included  the  highest  tone  and  vigor  of  all 
parts  of  the  body,  that  are  consistent  with  a  sound 
condition  of  them;  for  the  tone  of  a  vital  organ* 
like  that  of  a  musical  instrument,  may  be  too  high* 
as  well  as  too  low. 

Physical  education,  then,  in  its  philosophy  and 
practice,  is  of  great  compass.  If  complete,  it  would 
be  tantamount  to  an  entire  system  of  Hygeiene.  It 
would  embrace  every  thing,  that,  by  bearing  in  any 
way  on  the  human  body,  might  injure  or  benefit  it 
in  its  health,  vigor,  and  fitness  for  action.  It  must 
be  obvious  to  you,  therefore,  that,  on  the  present 
occasion,  I  can  consider  it  but  partially.  To  give  a 
full  development  of  it,  volumes  of  writing  would  be 
necessary,  and  days  would  be  required  to  read 
them.  So  numerous  are  the  elements,  which  enter 
into  the  aggregate  of  the  scheme,  that  I  can  but  barely 
refer  to  most  of  them,  and  speak  of  a  few  of  them 
very  briefly. 

Were  I  to  commence  at  the  real  fountain  of  phys- 
ical education,  and  trace  the  stream  to  its  close,  I 
should  be  obliged  to  refer  to  a  period  anterior  to  the 
birth,  or  even  the  formation  of  those,  of  the  promo- 
tion and  perfection  of  whose  health  and  strength  I 
should  be  treating. 

The  first  and  most  important  element  of  physical 

education,  is  to  procure,  for  those  to  be  educated,  a 

constitution  of  body  originally  sound.     To  this,  the 

soundness  of  parents  is  indispensable — it  being  a  law 

3* 


30  PHrsicAL  EDtrcATrorf, 

of  nature,  that  constitutional  qualities  are  hereditary* 
If  the  stamina  of  the  child  be  defective,  it  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  the  health  and  vigor  of  the  adult 
can  be  naade  perfect.  The  primitive  deficiency^ 
though  it  may  be  lessened,  can  never  be  removed. 
As  vi^ell  may  you  look  for  the  erection  of  a  solid 
edifice,  to  endure  for  ages,  out  of  decayed  mate- 
rials. 

The  consthution  of  the  child  may  be  irremediably 
impaired,  by  various  causes.  Of  these,  the  marriage 
of  the  feeble  and  infirm  is  one, — children  inheriting 
the  constitutions  of  their  parents. 

Under  this  head  are  included  all  persons  having  a 
well-known  constitutional  tendency  to  any  form  of 
disease ;  the  more  especially  if  that  tendency  be  a 
family  inheritance.  Of  this  description  are  those 
who  are  predisposed  to  insanity,  idiocy,  pulmonary 
consumption,  asthma,  gout,  dyspepsia,  scrophula, 
and  other  affections  known  to  be  transmissible  from 
parents  to  their  offspring. 

Early  marriages, — those,  I  mean,  that  take  place 
before  the  full  maturity  of  the  parties,  is  another. 
Sound  and  perfect  fruit  cannot  be  the  product  of 
immature  and  feeble  trees.  This  truth  is  well 
known  to  skilful  agriculturists,  and  scrupulously  ob- 
served and  practised  on,  by  them,  in  their  efforts  to 
improve  their  domestic  animals,  and  the  products  of 
their  grounds.  It  is  neglected,  and  run  counter  to, 
only  in  what  are  termed  efforts  to  improve  the 
human  race.  To  improve  the  human  race  !  rather 
say,  to  deteriorate  it !     While  man  is  the   laborious 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  31 

improver  of  every  thing  else,  as  well  in  art  as  in 
nature,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  he  neglects,  or  rather 
deteriorates  himself;  not  remembering  that  self  im- 
provement would  not  only  be  a  source  of  the  purest 
pleasure  to  him,  but  would  qualify  him  the  better  for 
effecting  every  other  form  of  it,  by  increasing  his 
powers. 

Another  cause,  is  marriage,  where  the  male  party 
is  far  advanced  in  life,  the  female  being  within  the 
period  of  fruitfulness.  The  issue  of  such  connex- 
ions are  rarely  possessed  of  sound  constitutions. 
They  often  exhibit  some  of  the  elements  of  old  age, 
even  in  their  youth.  And  no  instance  is  remem- 
bered at  present,  where  they  have  been  long-lived, 
or  distinguished  by  mental  or  bodily  powers, 

A  fourth  cause  is  the  marriage  of  the  indigent, 
who  are  unable  to  provide  for  their  offspring  a  com- 
petent supply  of  wholesome  food.  Hence  the  uni- 
versal degeneracy  of  the  poor — of  those,  I  mean, 
whose  nutriment  is  scanty,  of  bad  quality,  and  imper- 
fectly cooked.  For  the  cooking  of  diet  is  of  great 
moment;  and  the  cookery  of  the  poor  is  always 
defective. 

A  fifth  cause  is  a  long  perseverance  in  family  alli- 
ances ;  marriages,  I  mean,  between  those  nearly  allied 
to  each  other,  by  descent.  Be  the  immediate  rea- 
son what  it  may,  the  fact  is  indisputable,  that  the 
descendants  of  parents  thus  related  degenerate ;  and 
the  families,  in  time,  become  extinct.  Witness  the 
present  royal  families  of  Europe,  that,  from  sceptred 
pride,  and  state  policy,  have  long  intermarried  with 


32  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

each  other.  They  can  now  scarcely  muster  heirs, 
in  the  direct  line,  to  occupy  their  thrones — and  such 
heirs,  that,  the  whole  of  them  united,  would  not  form 
a  well-gifted  man  !  Three  of  them  are  females,"* 
the  average  of  whose  ages  would  make  them  chil- 
dren of  about  ten  years  old — feeble  hands,  to  sway 
the  trident  and  the  sceptre  over  a  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  the  human  race  !  Yet,  those  families, 
now  so  degenerate,  were  once  signalized  for  high 
and  noble  qualities,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  noble, 
and  were,  on  that  account,  clad  in  purple,  and  deco- 
rated with  crowns.  Nothing  but  commanding  attri- 
butes, mental  or  personal,  or  both,  could  have  raised 
them,  at  first,  to  regal  power.  Of  the  nobility  of 
Portugal,  I  might  observe  the  same.  They  were 
once  the  pride  of  Europe.  But,  by  intermarriages, 
continued  for  centuries,  they  are  now  a  most  degen- 
erate race.  By  intermarrying  with  commoners,  the 
nobility  of  Great  Britain,  Turkey,  and  Persia,  avoid 
degeneracy,  and  continue  among  the  finest  people  of 
their  respective  nations. 

The  last  cause  I  shall  cite,  as  operating  before  the 
birth  of  the  child,  is  the  state  of  health  of  the  mother, 
during  gestation.  Unless  that  be  sound,  the  consti- 
tution of  the  offspring  will  be  necessarily  impaired. 
It  is  in  vain  to  allege,  in  opposition  to  this,  that  the 
infants  of  delicate,  enfeebled,  and  even  sickly  moth- 

*  When,  from  any  cause,  men  are  feeble  in  their  constitu- 
tional powers,  their  offspring,  if  they  have  any,  superabound  in 
females.     Of  inferior  animals,  the  same  is  true. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  33 

ers,  are  sometimes  healthy  and  robust.  They  would 
have  been  more  so,  had  the  health  of  their  mothers 
been  in  a  better  condition. 

The  avoidance,  by  females,  therefore,  while  preg- 
nant, of  every  thing  that  might  injure  them,  cannot 
be  too  strict.  Nor  is  this  all.  They  should  take 
more  exercise  in  the  open  air  than  they  usually  do. 
The  feeling,  which  induces  many  of  them  to  shut 
themselves  up  in  their  rooms,  for  weeks  and  months, 
before  parturition,  is  an  excess  of  delicacy — were 
the  term  less  exceptionable,  I  would  say  false  deli- 
cacy— and  ought  not  to  be  indulged.  Their  food 
should  be  wholesome,  nourishing,  and  easy  of  diges- 
tion, and  should  be  taken  in  quantities  sufficient  to 
give  them  their  entire  strength,  and  maintain  all 
their  functions  in  full  vigor.  Their  minds  ought  to 
be  kept  in  a  state  of  tranquillity.  In  a  particular 
manner,  the  effects  of  frightful  appearances,  alarm- 
ing accidents,  and  agitating  and  impassioned  tales 
and  narratives  should  be  carefully  guarded  against  by 
them.  The  blighting  operation  of  the  '  Reign  of 
Terror,'  in  Paris,  on  the  children  born  during  that 
period,  furnishes  fearful  evidence  of  the  influence  of 
the  distracted  and  horrified  condition  of  the  mother, 
over  the  system  of  the  unborn  infant.  An  unusual 
number  of  them  was  still-born.  Of  those  who  were 
not  so,  a  number  equally  uncommon  died  at  an  early 
age  ;  and,  of  those  who  attained  adult  life,  an  un- 
usual proportion  were  subject  to  epilepsy,  madness, 
or  some  other  form  of  cerebral  disease.  Pinel  tells 
us,  '  that  out  of  ninety-two  children  born  after  the 


34  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

blowing  up  of  the  arsenal  at  London,  in  1793,  eight 
were  affected  by  a  species  of  cretinism,  and  died 
before  the  expiration  of  the  fifth  year  ;  thirty-three 
languished  through  a  miserable  existence,  of  from 
nine  to  ten  months'  duration  ;  sixteen  died  on  com- 
ing into  the  world,  and  two  were  born  with  numerous 
fractures  of  the  longer  bones  !  The  latter  effect 
must  have  been  produced  by  the  inordinate  and  de- 
ranged contraction  of  the  uterus. 

Over  the  foregoing  causes,  you,  as  mere  instruct- 
ers,  have  no  control.  For  no  mismanagement  of 
them,  therefore,  are  you  accountable.  Nor  does 
the  direction  of  physical  education  in  the  nursery, 
fall  within  your  province.  Yet  is  the  treatment  of 
children  there,  of  great  moment  both  to  them  and  to 
you,  in  subsequent  years.  Its  effects,  for  good  or 
evil,  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  as  lasting  as  their  lives, 
and  to  influence,  more  or  less,  their  entire  destiny. 
A  few  remarks  on  it,  therefore,  will  not  perhaps  be 
out  of  place. 

The  sound  nursery-education  of  children,  consists 
chiefly  in  the  judicious  management  of  diet,  cleanli- 
ness, clothing,  atmospherical  temperature,  respira- 
tion, muscular  exercise,  sleep,  and]  the  animal  pas- 
sions. I  say  '  animal  passions,'  because  children  in 
the  nursery  have  no  other  kind.  Of  the  education 
of  the  moral  feelings,  I  shall  speak  hereafter.  I  do 
not  say  that  no  degree  of  moral  education  can  be 
communicated  to  children  at  a  very  early  period. 
Their  moral  organs,  however,  being  as  yet  not  only 
small,  but  very  immature,  cannot  be  operated  on  to 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  35 

much  advantage.     An  attempt  to  excite  them  pow- 
erfully, might  even  do  mischief. 

For  many  reasons,  infants  are  best  nourished, 
when  nursed  by  their  mothers.  Though  exceptions 
to  this  sometimes  occur,  they  are  rare,  and  might, 
by  well-regulated  conduct,  be  rendered  much  more 
so.  When  children  have  passed  the  period  of  lac- 
tation, their  diet  should  be  simple,  nutritious,  and 
easily  digested  ;  and  they  may  take  it  liberally,  and 
at  shorter  intervals  than  adults.  But  they  should 
never  be  gorged  with  it,  nor  allowed  to  eat  until 
their  appetites  are  cloyed.  Of  all  solid  substances, 
whether  animal  or  vegetable,  they  should  early  learn 
the  importance  of  thorough  mastication.  They 
should  be  taught,  that  to  swallow  such  articles,  with- 
out chewing  them,  is  indecent,  as  well  as  injurious  y 
for  they  will  often  do,  in  defiance  of  danger  and  pos- 
itive prohibition,  what  they  would  not  do,  in  viola- 
tion of  good  manners.  High-seasoned  condiments, 
and  other  provocatives,  should  be  carefully  withheld 
from  them.  So  should  unripe  fruit,  and  crude  veg- 
etables,— all  their  diet  being  thoroughly  cooked. 
Indeed,  children  are,  on  an  average,  much  more  in- 
jured than  benefited,  by  eating  undressed  summer 
fruit,  of  whatever  kind  it  may  be,  and  whether  it  be 
ripe  or  green.  One  reason  of  this  is,  that  they  are 
permitted  to  eat  too  much  of  it,  and  to  take  it  at  im- 
proper times.  Every  thing  either  highly  stimula- 
ting, or  difficult  of  digestion,  should  be  prohibited 
food.  Such  diet  is  bad  enough  for  adults  ;  for  chil- 
dren, tender,  feeble,  and  susceptible  as  they  are,  it 


36  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

is  poison,  destroying  life,  at  times,  in  a  few  hours. 
Infinite  mischief  is  done,  by  giving  children  a  ^  little  ' 
of  a  prohibited  article,  because  '  the  dear  creatures 
wanted  it,  and  held  out  their  little  hands  for  it ! '  A 
transgression  of  this  kind,  by  a  nurse,  should  be  vis- 
ited on  her,  by  an  immediate  dismissal.  Let  it 
never  be  forgotten  nor  overlooked,  that,  like  all  other 
parts  of  the  body,  the  stomach  may  be  strengthened, 
by  skilful  training.  Let  that  organ  receive  suitable 
aliment,  in  proper  quantities,  and  at  well-regulated 
periods,  and  it  will  be  as  certainly  improved,  in  its 
powers  and  sympathies,  as  the  brain,  external  sen- 
ses, and  muscles  are,  by  their  appropriate  kinds  of 
action.  Nor  is  it  less  impaired  and  enfeebled  than 
other  organs,  by  too  much  or  too  little  action.  It  is 
subject  to  all  the  laws  that  govern  other  portions  of 
organized  matter.  Suitable  exercise,  indulged  in  to 
the  proper  extent,  strengthens  it,  while  excessive  and 
deficient  action  weakens  it,  and  unfits  it  for  its  func- 
tions. Too  much  attention  cannot  be  paid  to  the 
bowels,  in  the  earlier  years  of  life,  and,  indeed, 
throughout  the  whole  of  it.  Their  condition  should 
always  be  free,  inclining  to  laxity,  rather  than  the 
contrary.  Let  them  be  regulated  by  diet  and  regi- 
men, if  possible.  Should  that  course,  however, 
prove  unsuccessful,  the  necessary  laxatives  must  be 
administered. 

The  cleanliness  of  children,  is  indispensable  to 
the  healthy  action  of  their  skin,  and,  through  that, 
to  their  general  health ;  and  the  water  used  in 
cleansing  them  should   be  tepid.     Though  vigorous 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  37 

children  may  bear  bathing  in  cold  water,  with  impu- 
nity, delicate  ones  cannot.  And  even  the  former,  if 
in  the  slightest  degree  indisposed,  may  be  injured  by 
it.  It  being,  moreover,  not  always  easy  to  ascer- 
tain, whether  children  are  in  perfect  health,  or  not, 
tepid  water  is  always  safest.  Nor  is  infancy  the 
proper  period  to  attempt  to  produce  hardihood  of 
constitution,  by  exposure  to  a  low  temperature. 
Practice  founded  on  the  opposite  opinion,  is  often 
productive  of  serious,  not  to  say  fatal  results. 

I  shall  only  add,  under  this  head,  that  personal 
cleanliness,  as  one  of  the  minor  virtues,  (for  it  de- 
serves to  be  so  called,)  is  much  less  attended  to  and 
esteemed,  in  the  United  States,  than  it  ought  to  be. 
Nor  does  this  charge  implicate  only  the  neglect  of 
children.  Adults  are  still  more  negligent  of  cleanli- 
ness in  themselves.  During  weeks  and  months, 
water  touches  no  parts  of  many  of  them,  save  their 
hands  and  faces — and — longo  iniervello — their  feet 
and  ancles.  This  is  downright  uncleanliness,  not  to 
give  it  a  harsher  name.  Were  the  inhabitants  of 
our  country,  to  use  some  form  of  ablution  much 
more  frequently  than  they  do,  they  would  be  purer, 
more  comfortable,  and  healthier  than  they  are. 

The  clothing  of  infants  should  be  soft,  fitted  to 
absorb  moisture  from  the  skin,  and  retain  the  natural 
warmth  of  the  body,  and  so  fashioned,  as  to  be 
loose  and  free.  The  tight  bandaging  of  children, 
•and  every  other  form  of  pressure,  made  by  their 
clothing,  is  pernicious.  Health  has  been  injured, 
and  life  destroyed  by  it.  This  is  true,  more  espe- 
4 


38  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

cially,  of  undue  pressure  on  the  abdomen  or  chest — 
the  parts  on  which  it  is  most  frequently  made. 

The  temperature  of  a  nursery  ought  to  be  com- 
fortable. It  should  neither  chill  with  cold,  nor  flush 
with  heat.  To  the  tenderness  and  susceptibility  of 
infancy,  all  extremes  are  hurtful.  Means  to  prevent 
the  apartment  from  being  traversed  by  currents  of 
cold  or  damp  air  should  be  provided,  and  nothing 
neglected,  that  may  tend  to  secure  an  equable  tem- 
perature. 

The  respiration  of  infants  is  immensely  important, 
and  cannot  be  too  vigilantly  attended  to.  The  air 
breathed  by  them  should  be  fresh  and  pure.  Let 
nurseries,  therefore,  be  spacious,  clean,  and  thor- 
oughly ventilated.  Nor  is  it  unimportant,  that  they 
be  well  lighled — I  mean  with  windows.  The  influ- 
ence of  light,  on  animal  life,  is  not  sufficiently  appre- 
ciated. Facts  as  well  as  principles  show,  that  it  is 
much  greater  and  more  salutary,  than  is  commonly 
believed.  Darkness  long  continued,  is  scarcely  less 
pernicious  to  tender  animals,  (and  children  are  such,) 
than  to  plants.  Account  for  it  as  we  may,  light  co- 
operates with  oxygen,  in  imparting  to  the  arterial 
blood,  the  brilliancy  of  its  scarlet.  Not  only  the 
complexion,  but  the  blood  itself,  the  source  of  com- 
plexion, loses  much  of  its  florid  hue,  in  miners, 
criminals  confined  in  dark  dungeons,  and  other  per- 
sons long  secluded  from  the  light.  During  suitable 
weather,  infants  should  pass  several  hours  daily  in  • 
the  open  air.  The  constant  housing  of  adults  is  bad  ; 
that  of  infants  far  worse  ;  because  their  delicacy  and 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  39 

sensitiveness  are  greater.  Respiration  acts  primi- 
tively on  the  lungs  ;  and  those  organs  are  invigorated 
and  otherwise  benefited,  by  the  laughing,  shouting, 
crowing,  and  occasional  crying  of  children.  How- 
ever unpleasant  the  latter  sound  may  be,  it  is  a  nat- 
ural one.  And  nature  is,  in  all  things,  our  best 
guide;  though  we  must  not  abuse  her,  or  suffer  her 
10  be  abused,  by  any  sort  of  excess.  Crying,  within 
proper  bounds,  is  good  exercise  for  the  lungs,  and 
other  vocal  organs  of  children  ;  and  suitable  exer- 
cise is  a  certain  source  of  strength,  to  every  portion 
of  the  body.  The  late  Professor  Rush,  who  was 
noted  for  his  pithy,  antithetical,  and  sagacious  re- 
marks, said,  in  his  lectures,  that,  though  the  usual 
adage  respecting  children  was,  '  Laugh  and  be  fat ;' 
he  had  learned,  from  observation,  that  they  might 
also  ^  Cry  and  be  fat.'     And  he  was  right. 

The  muscular  exercise  of  children  should  be  reg- 
ulated with  more  judgment  and  care,  than  is  usually 
bestowed  on  it.  Crawling  is  their  first  mode  of  pro- 
gression. In  this  they  should  be  encouraged,  and 
induced  to  practise  it  freely  ;  and  it  ought  to  be 
somewhat  protracted.  Nurses  and  parents,  espe- 
cially young  parents,  are  generally  too  anxious  to 
see  their  infants  beginning  to  walk,  or  rather  to  tot- 
ter along,  in  a  form  of  movement,  that  can  hardly  be 
called  walking.  Hence  they  induce  them  to  make 
premature  efforts  to  that  effect.  The  evils  likely  to 
arise,  and  which  often  do  arise,  from  this  practice, 
are  plain.  Owing  to  the  immaturity  and  flexibility 
of  their  bones,  and  the  feebleness  of  their  muscles, 


40  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  lower  extremities  are  frequently  bent  and  mis- 
shapen by  it;  and  the  children,  falling,  injure  their 
heads,  or  other  parts  of  their  bodies,  by  bringing 
them  into  collision  with  Hard,  cutting,  or  puncturing 
substances.  The  precise  age,  at  which  children 
may  begin  to  walk  with  safety,  cannot  be  settled,  by 
any  general  rule.  The  progress  toward  maturity, 
being  more  rapid  in  some  of  them,  than  in  others, 
the  periods  of  their  fitness  to  walk,  will  be  earlier  or 
later,  in  corresponding  degrees.  But  none  should 
be  allowed  to  walk,  until  the  firmness  and  strength 
of  their  limbs  are  sufficient  to  sustain,  without  distor- 
tion or  injury,  the  weight  of  their  bodies.  Observa- 
tion on  individual  cases,  therefore,  aided  by  experi- 
ence, must  give  the  rule.  On  the  subject  of  sleep, 
as  a  means  in  physical  education,  a  few  remarks  will 
be  offered  hereafter. 

The  passions  of  children,  if  indulged,  are  growing 
evils.  Hence  they  should  be  vigilantly  held  in 
check,  from  the  earliest  period.  If  not  thus  re- 
strained, they  become  noxious  weeds  in  the  garden 
of  the  mind,  deprive  valuable  plants  of  their  nourish- 
ment, and  blight  them  with  their  shadow.  To  speak 
in  language  better  suited  to  my  subject ;  if,  instead 
of  being  curbed,  they  are  fed  and  fostered,  they  be- 
come the  ruling  elements  of  character,  and  insure  to 
the  individual  a  life  of  trouble — not  to  say  of  acci- 
dent, disease,  and  suffering.  A  large  proportion  of 
the  evils  of  life,  as  respects  both  health  and  fortune, 
is  the  product,  more  or  less  directly,  of  unruly  pas- 
sions.    The  higher  and  milder  virtues,  social  as  well 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  41 

as  moral,  cannot  flourish  under  their  dominion.     Tn 
a  special  manner,  children  should  never  be  allowed 
to  obtain  what  has  once  been  denied  them,  by  break- 
ing into  a  passion  about  it.     Such  an  act  ought  to  be 
always  visited   by  a  positive  privation   of  the  thing 
desired.     And  the  ground  of  the  denial  should  be 
made  known  to  them.     Never  let  a  child  have  rea- 
son to  believe,  that  a  gust,  of  passion   is   a  suitable 
means  to  gratify  a  wish.     Teach  him,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, to  know  and  feel  the  reverse.     And,  should  he 
become  offended   at  a  pet  or  a   play-thing,  neither 
beat  it  yourself,  nor  allow  him  to  beat  it,  by  way  of 
pacification  or  revenge.    Such  procedure  is  aliment 
to  vindictiveness,  and  leads  to  mischief — perhaps,  in 
the  end,   to  maiming  and  murder.     As   relates  to 
matters  of  this  kind,  ignorant  and  passionate  nurses 
are  among   the  worst   of  family  nuisances.     They 
often  blow  into  a  flame  the  sparks  of  passion,  which, 
without  their  aid,  would  have   slumbered  and  gone 
out.     These  may  be  deemed  small  and  trivial  mat- 
ters.    In  themselves,  they  are  so  ;  but  not  in   their 
consequences.     Let  it  never  be  forgotten,  that  '  little 
things  are  great  to  little  men ;'  and  more  especially, 
to  little  children.     A  fiery  education,  in  the  nursery, 
may  heat  the  brain  to  the  verge  of  inflammation,  and 
aid  in  the  production  of  actual  inflammation  or  mad- 
ness— impair  health,  in  sundry  other  ways,  by  exces- 
sive excitement,  render  unhappy  the  days  of  others, 
as  well  as  of  the  mismanaged  individual,  and  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  blasted  reputation.     It  is  believed 
that  an  education  of  this  kind  injured  immeasurably 
4* 


42  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  late  Lord  Byron  ;  and  Earl  Ferrers  expiated  on 
a  gibbet,  the  fruit  of  a  similar  one. 

But  it  is  not  what  is  called  the  temper^  that  is 
alone  injured  by  a  nursery  education  unskilfully 
conducted*  Habits  of  deception,  falsehood,  and 
even  theft  are  not  unfrequently  encouraged  and 
formed  by  it.  This  can  scarcely  fail  to  lead  to 
serious  mischief;  it  being  the  natural  course  of 
things,  that  seeds  sown  in  infancy  yield  fruit  in  ma- 
turer  years.  The  slightest  disposition,  therefore,  in 
children,  to  deviate  from  truth  and  candor,  either 
in  words  or  actions,  or  to  appropriate,  as  their  own, 
what  does  not  belong  to  them,  should  be  promptly 
suppressed.  It  arises  from  irregular  action  in  cer- 
tain organs  of  the  brain,  which,  if  not  checked,  runs 
to  excess,  and  turns  to  a  moral  disease.  The 
organs  referred  to  belong  to  the  animal  class,  and, 
being  thus  exercised,  become  so  powerful  and  re- 
fractory, as  to  be  no  longer  under  the  control  of  the 
moral  and  reflecting  organs ;  and  the  elements  of 
vice,  are  finally  rooted  in  the  constitution  with  such 
firmness,  as  to  frustrate  all  attempts  to  remove  them. 
So  important  is  early  training  to  the  character  of  our 
race  ;  yet  so  lamentably  is  it  neglected  and  abused  1 
In  such  cases,  health  of  body  suffers  in  common 
with  soundness  of  mind,  the  undue  exercise  of  the 
animal  organs  of  the  brain  being  hostile  to  both.  In 
fine ;  the  regulation  of  the  nursery,  though  too  gen- 
erally intrusted  to  ignorance  and  thoughtlessness,  is 
a  charge  of  great  importance,  imposing  a  responsi- 
bility far  more  weighty,  than  it  is  usually  considered. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  43 

Too  often  are  those,  who  are  fit  for  little  else,  con- 
verted into  nursery  girls. 

The  teething  of  children,  is  a  process  requiring 
some  attention.  Provided,  however,  health  be  oth- 
erwise maintained,  it  is  much  less  dangerous,  than  it 
is  usually  considered.  The  only  reason,  why  the 
young  of  the  human  race  do  not  cut  their  teeth  with 
as  little  difficulty  and  suffering,  as  those  of  the  infe- 
rior animals,  is,  because  they  are  rendered,  by  the 
treatment  they  receive,  especially  by  improprieties 
in  diet,  unnaturally  tender  and  sensitive.  Gastric 
and  constitutional  derangement  is  the  chief  cause, 
not  only  why  infants  do  not  cut  their  teeth  with 
ease,  and  without  sickness,  but  also  why  they  suffer 
so  much  from  diseases  of  them,  in  after  life.  More 
attention  to  general  health,  than  is  now  paid,  not 
alone  during  infantile  and  youthful,  but  likewise  dur- 
ing adult  age,  even  to  the  close  of  life,  would  greatly 
limit  the  business  of  the  dentist.  To  the  cleanliness 
of  the  teeth  and  gums  of  children,  strict  attention 
should  be  paid. 

It  need  scarcely  be  observed,  that,  as  a  prevent- 
ive of  small-pox,  children  should  be  vaccinated,  at 
an  early  age.  The  practice,  therefore,  may  be  re- 
garded as  an  important  element  of  nursery  educa- 
tion. The  neglect  or  improper  procrastination  of  it, 
devolves  on  parents  a  responsibility  as  w^eighty  as 
almost  any  other  respecting  infants,  of  which  they 
can  be  guilty. 

As  already  mentioned,  however,  these  things 
affect  you,  as  teachers,  but  remotely ;  yet  they  do 


44  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

aflFect  you  ;  because  your  profession  calls  you  to 
witness  their  products,  and  to  remedy,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, the  mischief  they  have  done.  The  pupil  of  the 
nursery,  carries,  as  the  fruit  of  his  tuition  there,  a 
given  character  into  your  schools.  And  that  char- 
acter accords  with  his  previous  training.  I  doubt 
not  that  many  of  you  have  learned  to  read  and  deci- 
pher, in  children,  a  correct  record,  and  one  not  easi- 
ly mistaken  or*  forgotten,  of  the  family  government 
of  their  parents.  Were  fathers  and  mothers  apprized 
of  the  fact,  that  their  offspring  are  correct  inform- 
ants, at  the  bar  of  the  public,  of  what  they  daily  see, 
and  hear,  and  experience  at  home,  a  sense  of  repu- 
tation alone,  in  the  absence  of  higher  motives,  would 
induce  them  to  amend  their  domestic  discipline. 
Such  at  least  ought  to  be  its  effect.  Children  trained 
to  obedience  and  attention,  in  their  own  dwellings, 
will  not,  when  they  enter  seats  of  instruction,  leave 
those  valuable  qualities  behind  them.  But,  if  they 
are  neglected  by  their  parents,  they  can  scarcely 
fail  to  be  strangers,  as  well  to  a  sense  of  duty  and 
decorum,  as  to  the  practice  of  them.  In  fine,  when 
children  are  irregular,  vicious,  or  even  sickly,  the 
fault  and  the  misfortune  are,  in  a  much  higher  de- 
gree, than  is  usually  imagined,  attributable  to  the 
neglect  or  mismanagement  of  those,  who  have  had 
the  superintendence  of  them.  You  are  prepared,  I 
am  confident,  to  concur  with  me,  in  the  sentiment, 
that  some  of  the  greatest  difficulties  experienced  in 
schools,  as  relates  to  every  branch  of  education, 
arise   from  the  faults  of  domestic   discipline.     Let 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  45 

parents  and  guardians  do  their  duty,  and  the  busi- 
ness of  school  tuition  will  be  not  only  facilitated,  but 
enhanced  in  its  usefulness. 

Children  ought  not  to  be  too  soon  dismissed  from 
an  education  exclusively  domestic.  They  ought  not, 
I  mean,  to  be  sent  to  school  at  too  early  an  age.  A 
practice  the  contrary  of  this,  threatens  to  be  produc- 
tive of  serious,  not  to  say  irreparable  mischief.  Pa- 
rents are  often  too  anxious  that  their  children  should 
have  a  knowledge  of  the  alphabet,  of  spelling,  read- 
ing, geography,  and  other  branches  of  school-learn- 
ing, at  a  very  early  age.  This  is  worse  than  tempt- 
ing them  to  walk  too  early,  because  the  organ  likely 
to  be  injured  by  it,  is  much  more  important  than  the 
muscles  and  bones  of  the  lower  extremities.  It  may 
do  irremediable  mischief  to  the  brain.  That  viscus 
is  yet  too  immature  and  feeble,  to  sustain  fatigue. 
Until  from  the  sixth  to  the  eighth  year  of  life,  the 
seventh  being  perhaps  the  proper  medium,  all  its 
energies  are  necessary  for  its  own  healthy  develop- 
ment, and  that  of  the  other  portions  of  the  system. 
Nor  ought  they  to  be  diverted,  by  serious  study,  to 
any  other  purpose.  True — exercise  is  as  essential 
to  the  health  and  vigor  of  the  brain,  at  that  time  of 
life,  as  at  any  other ;  but  it  shoifld  be  the  general 
and  pleasurable  exercise  of  observation  and  action. 
It  ought  not  to  be  the  compulsory  exercise  of  tasks. 
Early  prodigies  of  mind,  rarely  attain  mature  distinc- 
tion. Tiie  reason  is  plain.  Their  brains  are  injured 
by  premature  toil,  and  their  general  health  impaired. 
From  an  unwise   attempt   to  convert,  at  once,  their 


46  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

flowery  spring  into  a  luxuriant  summer,  that  sum- 
mer, too  often,  never  arrives.  The  blossom  with" 
ers,  ere  the  fruit  is  formed.  For  these  reasons,  I 
have  never  been  an  advocate  of  '  Infant  Schools.' 
Unless  they  are  conducted  with  great  discretion, 
they  cannot  fail  to  eventuate  in  mischief.  They 
should  be  nothing  but  schools  of  pleasurable  exer- 
cise, having  little  to  do  with  books. 

As  those  institutions  are  now  administered,  they 
are  serious  evils.  The  passion  in  favor  of  them,  be- 
coming more  extensive  in  its  prevalence,  and  acquir- 
ing daily  greater  intensity,  is  among  the  alarming 
portents  cf  the  time.  It  is  founded  on  the  want  of 
a  correct  knowledge  of  the  human  constitution,  and 
of  the  amount  of  labor  its  different  organs  can  sus- 
tain with  safety,  at  the  different  periods  of  life. 
Perhaps  I  should  rather  say,  it  is  founded  on  the 
fallacious  belief,  that  it  is  the  infant's  mind  alone, 
that  labors  in  acquiring  school  learning,  and  not  any 
organized  portion  of  his  body.  This  is  an  error, 
which,  if  not  corrected,  will  prove  fatal  to  hundreds 
of  thousands,  of  the  human  race.  It  is  not  the  mind, 
but  the  brain,  the  master  organ  of  the  system,  essen- 
tial^ to  the  well-being  and  efficiency  of  every  other 
part  of  it,  that  toif? and  is  oppressed  in  the  studies 
of  the  school.  Nor,  tender  and  feeble  as  it  is,  is  it 
possible  for  it  to  endure  the  labor  often  imposed  on 
it,  without  sustaining  irreparable  injury — an  injury 
no  less  subversive  of  mental  than  of  corporeal  sound- 
ness and  vigor. 

Were  parents  fully  sensible  of  this,  (a  truth  which 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  47 

Phrenology  alone  can  teach  them,)  they  would  no 
longer  overload  the  brains  of  their  mere  babes  with 
study,  any  more  than  they  would  their  half  organ- 
ized muscles  and  joints  with  unmerciful  burdens  of 
brick  and  mortar.  They  would  even  know  that  the 
latter,  would  be  the  least  destructive  practice  of  the 
tv^o.  Under  such  circumstances,  we  should  hear 
no  more  of  the  '  Boy's  Book,'  and  the  '  Girl's  Book,' 
and  the  ^  Child's  Own  Book,'  with  such  other  slip- 
shod, catch-penny  trash,  as  now  encumbers  our 
bookstores  and  parlors.  These  would  all  be  ex- 
changed for  the  Book  of  Nature,  which  is,  truly,  the 
'  Child's  Own  Book  ;'  and  which,  being  traced  for 
that  purpose,  by  the  Divinity  himself,  is  fauklessly 
prepared. 

Instead  of  seeing  infants  confined  to  inaction  in 
crowded  school-rooms,  with  saddened  looks,  moist 
eyes,  and  aching  heads,  we  should  then  meet  them 
in  gardens  and  lawns,  groves  and  pleasure-grounds, 
breathing  wholesome  air,  leaping,  laughing,  shouting, 
cropping  flowers,  pursuing  butterflies,  collecting  and 
looking  at  curious  and  beautiful  insects  and  stones, 
listening  to  bird-songs,  singing  themselves,  admiring 
the  bright  blue  arch  of  the  heavens,  or  gazing  at  the 
thickening  folds  of  the  thunder-cloud,  and  doing  all 
other  things  fitted  to  promote  health,  develope  and 
strengthen  their  frames,  and  prepare  them  for  the 
graver  business  of  after-life.  And,  instead  of  pale 
faces,  flaccid  flesh,  and  wasted  bodies,  we  should 
find  them  with  ruddy  cheeks,  firm  muscles,  and  full 
and  well-rounded  limbs. 


48  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

Exercises  and  pastimes  such  as  these,  constitute 
the  only  '  Infant  School'  that  deserves  to  be  encour- 
aged ;  nor  will  any  other  sort  receive  encourage- 
ment, when  the  business  of  education  shall  be  thor- 
oughly understood.  The  brain  of  infants  will  be 
then  no  longer  neglected,  as  a  mass  of  matter  of  Httle 
importance ;  skin,  muscle,  and  bone,  being  thought 
preferable  to  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  will  be  viewed, 
in  its  true  character,  as  the  ruling  organ  of  the  body, 
and  the  apparatus  of  the  mind,  and  its  training  will 
receive  the  attention  it  merits.  I  repeat, — and  the 
repetition  should  be  persevered  in,  until  its  truth  be 
acknowledged,  and  reduced  to  practice, — that  most 
of  the  evils  of  education,  under  which  the  world  has 
so  long  suffered,  and  is  still  suffering,  arise  from  the 
mistaken  belief,  that,  in  what  is  called  moral  and  in- 
tellectual education,  it  is  the  miiid  that  is  exercised, 
and  not  the  brain.  Nor  will  the  evils  cease,  and 
education  be  made  perfect,  until  the  error  shall  be 
exploded.  Knowing  nothing  of  the  nature  of  mind, 
and  supposing  it  to  be,  as  a  spirit,  somewhat  impas- 
sive, we  are  neither  apprized  nor  apprehensive^  that 
any  degree  of  action  will  impair  it.  Indeed  we  can 
form  no  conception  of  an  injury  done  to  it,  as  a  sep- 
arate essence.  Perhaps  the  most  rational  belief  is, 
that  it  can  suffer  none.  But  the  case  is  different, 
as  respects  organized  matter.  We  witness,  daily, 
injuries  done  to  it,  by  injudicious  exercise.  Nor  is 
there  perhaps  any  portion  of  it  so  easily  or  ruinously 
deranged  by  excessive  action,  as  the  brain,  especially 
the    half-formed    and    highly   susceptible   brain   of 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  49 

infants.  Let  this  truth  be  realized,  and  faithfully  and 
skilfully  acted  on,  and  human  suffering  from  hydro- 
cephalus, rickets,  phrenitis,  idiocy,  epilepsy,  mad- 
ness, and  other  cerebral  affections  will  be  greatly 
diminished.  It  would  be  infinitely  wiser  and  better, 
to  employ  suitable  persons  to  superintend  the  exer- 
cises and  amusements  of  children,  under  seven  years 
of  age,  in  the  fields,  orchards  and  meadows,  and 
point  out  to  them  the  riches  and  beauties  of  nature, 
than  to  have  them  imtnured  in  crowded  school- 
rooms, in  a  state  of  inaction,  poring  over  torn  books 
and  primers,  conning  words  of  whose  meaning  they 
are  ignorant,  and  breathing  foul  air. 

After  these  remarks  on  what  falls  more  especially 
within  the  province  of  others,  I  shall  now  consider 
briefly  a  few  of  those  points  of  physical  education, 
in  which  you,  as  instructers,  have  an  immediate  con- 
cern. 

Having  hitherto  intentionally  omitted  it,  I  find 
it  necessary  to  my  purpose  now,  to  observe,  that  the 
human  body  is  composed  of  a  variety  of  sets  of  or- 
gans, some  of  which  are  so  predominant  in  their 
influence,  as  to  assimilate  the  condition  of  the  others 
to  their  own.  They  exercise,  also,  a  powerful  influ- 
ence over  one  another.  If  one  of  them  be  derang- 
ed, it  deranges  the  others;  and  if  either  of  them  be 
healthy  and  vigorous,  the  soundness  of  the  others 
may  be  considered,  on  that  account,  the  more  se- 
cure. Of  the  control  of  all  and  either  of  them  over 
the  rest  of  the  body,  the  same  is  true.  If  they  be 
sound,  it  is  sound  ;  if  diseased,  it  is  diseased. — To 
5 


50  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

execute  the  task  of  physical  education,  then,  it  is 
necessary,  chiefly,  so  to  watch  and  regulate  them, 
as  to  keep  thenni  unimpaired. 

The  organs  alluded  to,  as  possessing  a  predomi- 
nance, are,  the  skin,  the  digestive  system,  composed 
of  the  stomach,  liver,  pancreas,  intestines,  and  lacte- 
als;  the  blood-making  and  blood-circulating  system, 
made  up  of  the  heart,  lungs,  and  blood-vessels;  and 
the  cerebral  and  nervous  system,  comprising  the 
brain,  spinal  cord,  and  nerves.  The  muscular  sys- 
tem is  also  important,  not  only  in  itself,  but  as  con- 
tributing, by  its  functions,  to  the  perfection  of  the 
others.  Physical  education,  as  an  aggregate,  then, 
consists  in  the  proper  education  of  these  several  sets 
of  organs.  Train  them  in  the  best  manner,  and  to 
the  highest  pitch,  and  the  individual  has  attained  his 
highest  perfection. 

Of  the  education  of  the  skin,  I  have  already  spoken, 
under  the  heads  of  cleanliness,  clothing,  and  tem- 
perature ;  for  the  chief  action  of  temperature  is  on 
that  organ.  On  these  points,  therefore,  I  have  but 
little  to  add.  The  same  attention  to  them  required 
in  the  nursery,  is  required  in  the  school.  The  tem- 
perature of  school-rooms  should  be  comfortable,  in 
all  sorts  of  weather,  and  the  cleanliness  and  clothing 
of  pupils  such  as  may  best  contribute  to  the  health 
of  the  skin.  The  rooms  themselves  should  also  be 
clean.  The  covering  of  all  children,  especially 
of  delicate  ones,  had  better  be  too  warm  than 
too  cool.  And  pupils  should  never  be  allowed  to 
sit  in  school,   with   their  clothes  and   feet  wet,  or 


PHYSICAL    EPUCATION.  ^  5| 

even  damp.  The  most  vigorous  constitutions  have 
suffered  from  such  exposure.  Persons  may  exercise 
with  impunity,  in  damp  clothing,  and  with  wet  feet ; 
but  not  sit  still.  Nor  should  children  be  exposed  to 
currents  of  air  in  school-rooms.  They  would  be  safer 
out  of  doors,  than  under  the  action  of  such  a  cause. 
The  education  of  the  digestive  organs  has  been 
briefly  noticed,  under  the  head  of  diet.  It  is  matter 
of  regret  to  me,  that  time  does  not  permit  me  to  en- 
large on  it,  as  it  is  infinitely  important  in  physical 
education.  Long-lived  individuals  are  generally  re- 
markable for  the  soundness  of  their  stomachs.  Ma- 
ny of  them  have  never  experienced  nausea,  and 
rarely  an  impaired  appetite.  Improprieties  in  diet 
are  the  most  fruitful  source  of  the  diseases  of  chil- 
dren. Nor  are  they  much  less  so  to  those  of  riper 
age.  Eating  too  much,  and  of  unwholesome  arti- 
cles, is  a  national  evil  in  the  United  States;  and 
were  I  to  add,  a  national  disgrace,  the  charge  would 
scarcely  be  too  severe.  Do  you  ask  me  whether  it 
is  more  so  in  the  United  States  than  elsewhere?  I 
answer,  Yes  ;  and  the  reason  is  manifest.  Such  is 
our  happy  condition,  did  we  not  abuse  it,  that  it  is 
much  easier  to  procure  the  means  of  indulging  to 
excess,  in  the  United  States,  than  in  any  other 
country.  And  experience,  in  common  with  history, 
teaches  us,  that  mankind  are  prone  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  palate,  and  other  animal  appetites,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  facilities  of  indulgence  they  enjoy.  I 
confidently  believe,  that  the  thirteen  or  fourteen 
rnillions  of  people,  inhabiting  this  country,  eat  more 


52  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

trash,  for  amusement,  and  fashion^ s  sake,  and  to 
pass  away  idle  time,  than  half  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe  united.  Unquestionably  they  consume  a 
greater  amount  of  such  articles,  in  the  proportion  of 
Jive  to  one,  than  an  equal  number  of  the  people  of 
any  other  country  I  have  ever  visited.  Shame,  if 
not  prudence,  should  drive  them  from  a  practice, 
which  might  well  be  called  disgusting.  No  wonder 
that  European  travellers  ridicule  us  on  account  of  it. 
In  a  special  manner  should  children  and  youth  be 
guarded  "from  its  influence,  calculated  as  it  is,  to 
weaken  their  constitutions,  and  injure  their  intel- 
lects, and  thus  reduce  the  men  of  America  below 
the  standard  he  would  otherwise  attain.  Nor  will 
human  nature  ever  reach  the  perfection  our  fine  cli- 
mate, abundance  of  wholesome  food,  entire  freedom 
of  mind  and  body,  and  other  favorable  influences 
belonging  to  our  country,  would  bestow  on  it,  unless 
the  evil  be  remedied.  For,  that  the  Americans 
have  it  in  their  power,  if  they  be  true  to  themselves, 
and  use,  with  wisdom,  the  advantages  they  enjoy,  to 
become,  bodily  and  mentally,  the  most  perfect  peo- 
ple the  world  has  produced,  might  be  easily  shown, 
had  I  leisure  to  sum  up  the  evidence  which  presents 
itself. 

It  is  well  known  to  every  teacher,  that  children 
are  comparatively  dull,  after  dinner,  and  often  sleep 
over  their  tasks.  Why  ?  Because  they  have  dined 
on  improper  food,  or  eaten  to  excess  of  that  which 
is  proper.  In  such  a  case,  the  exercise  of  the 
brain,  or  of  the   mind,   if  the  latter  ward  be  pre- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  53 

ferred,  proves  injurious,  by  producing  indigestion. 
It  expends,  in  the  organ  of  thought,  that  portion  of 
vitality,  which  should  now  centre  in  the  stomach,  to 
enable  it  to  master  the  enemy  within  it — to  convert 
the  oppressive  load  of  food  it  has  received  into 
chyme,  and  prepare  it  for  chyle.  Daily  assaults  of 
this  sort  on  the  brain,  (especially  the  tender  brain 
of  children,  which  is  not  yet  completely  organized,) 
by  errors  in  diet,  cannot  fail  to  do  it  permanent  mis- 
chief. But,  as  already  observed,  the  regulation  of 
the  diet  of  children  belongs  chiefly  to  family  gov 
ernment.  As  respects  the  serious  evils,  however, 
arising  from  errors  committed  in  it,  teachers  should 
be  neither  inattentive  nor  silent.  Due  representa- 
tions and  remonstrances,  made  by  them  to  parents 
and  guardians,  might  be  productive  of  good.  They 
have  a  better  opportunity  than  most  other  persons, 
to  witness  the  unfavorable  effect,  which  the  practice 
objected  to,  produces  on  the  mind. 

Those  organs  of  the  body,  to  which  the  attention 
of  teachers  should  be  more  immediately  and  earnest- 
ly directed,  are  the  lungs,  the  heart  and  blood-ves- 
sels, the  muscles  of  voluntary  motion,  and  the  brain 
and  nerves. 

The  chief  measure  requisite,  in  the  education  of 
the  lungs,  is  the  procurement,  for  pupils,  of  a  com- 
petent supply  of  salubrious  atmospherical  air.  And 
I  need  scarcely  add,  that  to  remain  salubrious,  it 
must  be  regularly  changed.  Independently  of  any 
deleterious  impregnation  it  may  receive,  stagnation 
alone  injures  air,  as  certainly  as  water.  The  object 
6* 


54  PHYSICAL    EDUCATlOrr. 

here  referred  to,  involves  the  most  important  consid- 
erations, as  it  is  impossible  for  health  to  be  secured 
without  it.  The  attainment  of  it  depends  principally 
6n  the  site  and  construction  of  school-edifices.  The 
buildings  should  stand  in  elevated,  dry,  and  healthy 
positions,  remote  from  swamps,  and  low,  humid, 
alluvial  soil.  Or,  if  there  be  such  nuisances  in  the 
vicinity,  rows  of  bushy  trees  should  run  between 
them  and  the  houses  ;  the  latter  being  erected  on 
the  windward  side;  on  that  side,  I  mean,  over 
v^hich  the  prevailing  v^inds  of  summer  and  autumn 
pass,  before  they  reach  the  miasmatic  ground.  On 
no  account,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  should  a  school- 
house  stand  in  a  flat,  damp,  alluvial  situation.  And 
should  there  be  no  preventive  of  this,  let  the  edifice 
be  erected  on  an  artificial  hillock,  or  in  some  other 
way  elevated  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  ground.  By  this  means,  the  pupils  being 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  the  miasm  that  may  he 
formed  below  them,  will  breathe  a  wholesome  at- 
mosphere. A  stagnant  atmosphere,  however,  as 
already  mentioned,  cannot  long  remain  wholesome, 
more  especially  if  it  be  charged  with  animal  exhala- 
tions. To  prevent,  therefore,  in  schools,  these  two 
sources  of  mischief,  the  rooms  should  never  be 
crowded,  and  ought  to  be  so  constructed,  that  their 
ventilation  may  be  perfect,  without  rendering  their 
temperature  uncomfortable  in  cold  weather.  This 
state  of  things,  so  highly  desirable,  and  so  easily  at- 
tained, is  not  usually  found  in  houses  of  instruction, 
for  junior  pupils.     On  the  contrary,  the  rooms  are, 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  65 

for  the  most  part,  crowded,  sometimes  jammed  with 
children,  too  hot  in  winter,  when  the  windows  are 
closed,  and  too  cold,  and  swept  by  currents  of  chil- 
ling air,  when  they  are  open.  In  such  places,  deli- 
cate children,  especially  if  their  lungs  be  more  than 
commonly  sensitive,  can  scarcely  fail  to  contract 
disease.  Or,  should  they  escape  actual  disease,  their 
delicacy  and  feebleness  will  be  increased.  For  the 
preservation  of  health  and  vigor,  when  possessed, 
and  their  restoration,  when  lost,  a  supply  of  salubri- 
ous air  is  as  necessary  to  the  lungs,  as  a  supply  of 
sound  and  nutritious  aliment  is  to  the  stomach.  The 
one  is  not  more  essential  to  the  production  of  healthy 
chyle,  than  the  other  is  to  the  formation  of  healthy 
blood.  And  we  shall  endeavor  to  show  presently, 
that,  without  such  blood,  not  a  single  function  be- 
longing to  man,  whether  it  be  physical,  intellectual, 
or  moral,  can  be  in  unimpaired  health  and  perfec- 
tion. For,  heterodox  as  the  sentiment  may  proba- 
bly appear  to  some  persons,  it  is,  notwithstanding, 
true,  that  florid,  well  vitalized  arterial  blood,  is  as 
necessary  to  give  full  vigor  to  the  intellectual  and 
moral  powers  of  the  philosopher,  statesman,  and 
patriot,  as  it  is  to  paint  the  roses  on  the  virgin's 
cheek,  and  the  coral  on  her  lip.  The  reason  is 
plain.  That  they  may  be  in  the  best  condition  to 
perform  their  functions,  the  intellectual  and  moral 
organs,  like  other  portions  of  the  body,  require  a 
supply  of  well-prepared  blood.  And  to  form  such 
blood  is  the  province  of  the  lungs,  using,  as  their 
principal   means,  unadulterated   atmospherical    air. 


66  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

But  no  room,  even  moderately  filled  with  human 
beings,  can  retain  a  pure  atmosphere,  however  judi- 
ciously it  may  be  constructed  for  ventilation.  Chil- 
dren, therefore,  should  be  confined  in  such  a  place, 
but  a  few  hours  at  a  time,  and  not  many  hours  in 
the  entire  day.  That  they  may  enjoy  perfect 
health,  a  considerable  portion  of  their  time  should 
be  passed  in  the  open  air.  There,  the  food  of  their 
lungs  will  be  wholesome,  and  their  respiration  free  . 
and  thev  will  derive  from  that  function,  all  the  ben- 
efit  rt  is  calculated  to  bestow. 

Another  useful  measure,  in  the  education  of  the 
lungs,  is,  for  pupils  to  practise  declamation  and 
singing.  Such  training  strengthens  those  organs,  as 
certainly  as  suitable  exercise  strengthens  the  mus- 
cles; and  it  does  it  on  the  same  ground.  1  again 
repeat,  and  it  can  hardly  be  too  often  repeated,  that 
it  is  well-directed  exercise  alone,  that  invigorates 
and  improves  every  form  of  living  matter.  Its  effect 
thus  to  invigorate  and  improve,  constitutes  one  of 
its  mest  important  laws.  Nor  is  its  ameliorating  in- 
fluence confined  to  living  matter.  It  improves  dead 
matter  also.  By  judicious  use,  a  bow  grows  better, 
and  to  the  improvement  of  violins,  flutes,  organs, 
pianos,  and  other  musical  instruments,  by  being 
skilfully  played  on,  all  experience  testifies. 

As  respects  the  salutary  influence  of  singing, 
declamation,  and  other  forms  of  loud  speaking,  on 
the  lungs,  Dr.  Rush  often  said,  and  perhaps  has 
left  the  fact  on  record,  that,  in  the  experience  of  a 
long  life,  he  had  never  known  a  singing-schoolmaster, 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  57 

an  auction-crier,  a  watchman  who  called  the  hours 
of  the  night,  or  an  oysternian.  who  cried  his  com- 
modity through  the  streets,  to  he  attacked  by  pul- 
monary consumption.  The  influence  of  declama- 
tion, by  the  sea-shore,  amidst  the  roar  of  the  surf,  in 
strengthening  the  lungs  of  Demosthenes,  might  be 
cited,  as  testifying  to  the  same  effect. 

The  mere  formation  of  good  blood,  however,  is 
not  alone  sufficient  to  satisfy  all  the  demands  of  the 
system.  That  fluid  must  be  also  circulated  actively 
to  every  portion  of  the  body,  else  the  purposes  of 
vigorous  health  are  not  subserved  by  it.  To  this 
end,  the  free  and  competent  action  of  the  heart  is 
essential ;  and  to  that  again,  voluntary  muscular  ac- 
tion is  no  less  so.  However  useful^  well  vitalized 
arterial  blood  is,  as  a  stimulant,  to  excite  the  left 
side  of  the  heart  to  the  requisite  degree  of  motion, 
experience  proves  that  it  is  not  alone  sufficient  for 
the  purpose.  Every  one  knows,  that  when  he  is 
motionless,  his  pulse  is  slow  and  comparatively  feeble, 
contrasted  with  itself,  when  he  is  engaged  in  exer- 
cise. So  is  his  respiration.  Even  when  our  exer- 
cise is  moderate,  we  inspire  a  third  or  fourth  oftener, 
in  a  given  time,  than  we  do,  when  we  are  still.  Our 
inspirations  are  also  deeper  and  fuller.  More  air 
therefore  is  received,  in  an  equal  period,  into  the 
lungs.  But,  other  things  being  alike,  the  larger  the 
volume  of  air  that  enters  those  organs  is,  the  more 
completely  is  the  blood  vitalized  and  matured  ;  and, 
if  correspondingly  circulated,  the  more  efficiently 
does  it  contribute  to  the  perfection  of  every  function 


58  PHYSICAL    EDUCATIOKT. 

of  the  system.  Hence  the  health,  vivacity,  strength, 
and  florid  complexions  of  persons,  whether  children 
or  adults,  who  exercise  and  respire  freely  in  the 
open  air,  and  the  comparative  paleness,  delicate 
health,  languor,  and  weakness  of  those,  who  pass 
their  time  in  a  state  of  inaction,  even  in  the  most 
spacious  and  comfortable  dwellings.  This  truih  is 
amply  illustrated  and  confirmed,  by  contrasting  the 
agriculturalist,  who  labors  in  the  field,  or  the  hunter, 
v^ho  roams  the  forest,  wiih  the  secluded  man  of  let- 
ters, or  with  the  manufacturer,  who  closely  pursues 
his  occupation  in  a  small  and  ill  ventilated  work- 
shop. 

In  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  under  all  circum- 
stances, highly  studious  and  literary  men  have  infirm 
health.  The  reason  is  plain.  They  exercise  their 
brains  too  much,  and  their  muscles,  hearts  and 
lungs,  too  little.  Hence  the  whole  frame  is  first  de- 
bilitated, and  ultimately  deranged.  The  lungs  and 
heart  failing  somewhat  in  their  functions,  the  brain 
does  not  receive  a  sufficient  amount  of  well-vitalized 
blood.  Its  vigor  is  diminished,  therefore,  by  a  two- 
fold cause ;  exhaustion  from  its  excessive  labors, 
and  a  defective  supply  of  sound  arterial  blood,  which 
is  its  vital  food.  Though,  in  a  given  time,  then,  a 
literary  man  may  accomplish  a  greater  amount  of 
work,  by  inordinate  and  unremitting  cerebral  toil, 
he  cannot  do  it  so  well.  In  a  particular  manner, 
the  product  of  his  mind  will  have  less  brilliancy  and 
power.  It  will  be  like  the  fruit  of  advanced  age, 
contrasted  with  that  of  the  meridian  of  life — like  the 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  69 

Odyssey  of  Homer,  compared  to  the  Iliad,  or  Mil- 
ton's Paradise  Regained,  to  his  Paradise  Lost, 
Another  cause  of  the  infirm  health  of  literary  men 
is,  that  they  eat  too  much,  or  indulge  in  food  too 
difficult  of  digestion.  This  renders  them  dyspeptic. 
Their  stomachs  being  debilitated,  in  common  with 
their  other  organs,  the  diet  used  by  them  should 
be  of  the  most  digestible  kind  ;  and  it  should  be 
taken  sparingly.  Let  such  characters  take  more 
muscular  exercise  in  the  open  air,  and  eat  less ;  and 
they  will  enjoy  much  more  health  of  body,  and  vigor 
and  productiveness  of  mind. 

As  heretofore  mentioned,  light  itself,  which  acts 
on  us  more  freely,  and  to  better  effect,  without 
doors  than  within,  is  friendly  to  both  vegetable  and 
animal  perfection.  Shut  up  in  entire  darkness, 
either  man,  quadrupeds,  or  birds,  and  you  injure  and 
enfeeble  them.  Casper  Hauser,  Baron  Trenck,  and 
many  other  persons  that  might  be  named,  furnish 
memorable  examples,  of  this.  Partial  darkness, 
therefore,  must  produce  on  them  an  effect  differing 
only  in  degree.  It  has  been  observed,  that,  other 
things  being  equal,  dark  work- shops,  are  less  salubri- 
ous than  well-lighted  ones.  To  the  perfection  of 
our  race,  then,  liberal  exercise  in  the  open  air — a 
much  larger  amount  of  it  than  is  taken  by  children 
at  school,  especially  female  children — is  essential. 
Never  will  mankind  attain  the  high  standard,  either 
bodily  or  mental,  of  which  they  are  susceptible,  un- 
til females,  not  only  while  children,  but  also  during 


60  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

adult  life,  take  more  and  freer  exercise,  out  of 
doors,  than  they  do  at  present.  I  do  not  mean  that 
they  ought  to  run  foot-races,  wrestle,  spar,  fence, 
vault  over  six-bar  gates,  or  in  any  other  way  hoiden 
it.  Such  masculine  feats  would  suit  neither  their 
taste,  delicacy,  nor  intended  pursuits ;  nor  are  they 
requisite.  No  :  I  mean,  that  they  should,  as  a  duty 
to  themselves,  their  contemporaries,  and  posterity, 
indulge  in  graceful  and  becoming  exercise,  in  the 
streets,  gardens,  fields,  lawns,  roads,  and  pleasure- 
grounds,  to  a  sufficient  extent,  to  invigorate  their 
frames,  heighten  their  beauty,  and  strengthen  their 
intellects.  Should  they  even  climb  lofty  hills,  and 
craggy  mountains,  breathe  the  pure  air,  and  enjoy 
the  spirit-stirring  and  inspiring  prospects  they  afford, 
the  excursions  would  be  beneficial  both  to  body  and 
mind.  For,  1  repeat,  that  exercise,  judiciously  di- 
rected and  indulged  in,  improves  the  latter,  as  cer- 
tainly as  the  former.  Walking  then  is  one  excellent 
form  of  exercise  for  females,  and  riding  on  horse- 
back is  another.  It  is  praiseworthy  in  them,  more- 
ever,  to  learn  to  walk  elegantly,  because  graceful 
motion  adds  to  their  accomplishments,  and  increases 
their  attractiveness.  The  air  of  Josephine,  in  walk- 
ing, was  fascination  ;  and  an  American  lady,  now  in 
London,  threw  a  spell  over  royalty,  by  the  grace  of 
her  movement,  in  quitting  the  drawing-room.  But, 
by  elegance  in  walking,  I  do  not  mean  primness, 
mincingness,  or  any  thing  artificial.  Far  from  it. 
Let  all  be  natural ;  but  nature  should  be  cultivated 
and  improved.     Let  ladies  afford  reason  to  have 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  61 

said  of  them,  what  the  poet  of  Abbottsford  said  of 
his  Ellen  Douglass.  — 

'  A  foot  more  light,  a  step  more  true, 

*  Ne'er  from  the  heath-flower  brushed  the  dew^ 

*  E'en  the  slight  hare-bell  reared  its  head, 

*  Elastic  from  her  airy  tread.* 

In  truth,  that  same  lovely  Ellen,- though  reared  on  a 
secluded  island,  amidst  the  highlands  of  Scotland, 
was  mistress  of  many  other  attributes,  several  of 
them  the  mere  result  of  health,  and  that  health  the 
product  of  lake  and  mountain  exercise,  which  the 
most  high-bred  and  courtly  female  might  be  excused 
for  envying.  For  the  same  poet,  who,  had  he  writ- 
ten nothing  else,  has  immortalized  himself,  by  im- 
mortalizing her,  farther  tells  us,  that, — 

*  Ne'er  did  Grecian  chisel  trace 
'  A  nymph,  a  naiad,  or  a  grace, 

*  With  finer  form,  or  lovelier  face. 

*  What,  though  the  sun,  with  ardent  frown, 

*  Had  slightly  tinged  her  cheek  with  brown, 

*  The  sportive  toil  which  short  and  light, 
'  Had  dyed  her  glowing  hue  so  bright, 

*  Served  too,  in  hastier  swell  to  show, 
'  Short  glimpses  of  a  breast  of  snow. 

*  And  seldom  o'er  abreast  so  fair 

*  Mantled  a  plaid  with  modest  care  j 

*  And  never  brooch  the  folds  combined 

*  Above  a  heart  more  good  and  kind. 

*  Her  kindness  and  her  worth  to  spy, 

*  You  need  but  look  in  Ellen's  eye  ; 

*  Not  Katrine,  in  her  mirror  blue, 

*  Gives  back  the  shaggy  banks  more  true, 

*  Than  every  freeborn  glance  confessed, 

*  The  guileless  movements  of  her  breast ; 

*  Whether  joy  sparkled  in  her  eye, 

6 


62  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

*  Or  wo  or  pity  claimed  a  sigh, 

*  Or  filial  love  was  glowing  there, 

*  Or  meek  devotion  poured  a  prayer, 

*  Or  tale  of  injury  called  forth 

*  The  indignant  spirit  of  the  north. — 
'  One  only  passion  unrevealed, 

*  With  maiden  pride  the  maid  concealed, 

*  Yet  not  less  purely  felt  the  flame — 

*  O  !  need  I  tell  that  passion's  name !  * 

Carriage-riding  is,  at  best,  a  semi-sedentary  occu- 
pation, and  does  but  little  good,  in  imparting  strength. 
A  lady  possessed  of  a  fine  figure,  who  dresses  with 
taste,  and  rides  gracefully,  never  appears  to  more 
advantage,  than  when  seated  on  an  elegant  and  well 
gaited  horse.  Nor  can  she  indulge  in  a  more  salu- 
tary mode  of  exercise.  For  younger  females,  it  is 
equally  beneficial.  As  riding  on  horseback,  more- 
over, requires  some  boldness  of  spirit,  the  practice 
tends  to  lessen  that  female  timidity,  which  is  often 
inconvenient  and  injurious  to  its  possessors,  as  well 
as  to  others.  However  desirable  sensibility  may  be, 
in  a  reasonable  degree,  like  all  other  qualities,  it 
may  become  excessive,  turn  to  evil,  and  impair 
health.  Experience  teaches  us  that  it  often  does 
so,  especially  in  feeble  persons,  in  whom  it  is  most 
prone  to  become  inordinate,  on  account  of  their  fee- 
bleness. To  restrain  it,  therefore,  so  as  to  hold  it 
within  due  bounds,  by  invigorating  exercise,  and 
judicious  exposure  to  something  bordering  on  dan- 
ger, or  at  least  resembling  it,  is  an  end  that  should 
be  constantly  aimed  at,  in  the  physical  education 
of  females — and  also  of  males,  who  have  any  thing  of 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  63 

feminine  susceptibility  in  their  temperamerits.  Peter 
the  Great  had  an  instinctive  dread  of  water,  of  which 
he  was  cured,  by  being  repeatedly  precipitated  into 
rivers.  On  the  same  principles,  Frederick  HI.  had 
a  troublesome  excess  of  sensitiveness  obliterated. 

That  it  may  be  useful,  in  the  highest  degree,  ex- 
ercise ought  not  to  be  very  severe.  It  should  not 
amount  to  labor  or  straining.  A  form  of  it  so  vio- 
lent, if  it  does  no  actual  organic  mischief,  diminishes 
vitality,  by  an  excessive  expenditure  of  it,  instead  of 
augmenting  it.  Like  excess  in  every  thing  else,  it 
is  wrong  and  injurious,  because  o{  its  excess.  Hence, 
some  of  the  violent  gymnastic  exploits,  practised  oc- 
casionally in  seats  of  learning,  are  better  calculated 
to  do  harm  than  good.  Though  they  produce  salu-_ 
tary  action  in  some  of  the  muscles,  they  strain,  ex- 
haust, and  injure  others.  Those  who  take  exercise,  ^ 
for  the  sake  of  health  and  vigor,  especially  if  they  be 
delicate,  should  never  carry  it  so  far,  either  in  vio- 
lence or  duration,  as  to  induce  fatigue.  In  a  higher 
or  lower  degree,  that  is  dangerous,  and  may  prove 
the  cause  of  actual  sickness.  The  manual-labor 
system  connected  with  some  schools,  is  not  only 
more  useful  in  its  objects,  but  better  fitted  to  sub- 
serve health,  than  the  common  gymnastic  one. 
Still,  the  moderate  and  graceful  gymnastic  exercises 
are  so  useful^  and  desirable,  as  the  source  of  accom- 
plishments, that  I  should  regret  their  abolishment. 
One  of  the  best  forms  of  them  is  that  of  the  sword; 
especially  the  small  sword.     It  is,  at  once,  elegant, 


64  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

invigorating,  and  manly,  giving  fine  play  to  all  the 
principal  muscles  of  the  body. 

Nor  does  it,  as  some  imagine,  foster  a  propensity 
to.  combat  and  blood.  Far  from  it.  That  feeling 
belongs  only  to  the  bully  and  the  ruffian.  While  a 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  defence  increases  personal 
firmness  and  self-reliance,  in  cases  of  difficulty  and 
danger,  it  is  usually  accompanied  by  a  pacific  tem- 
per, and  a  gentlemanly  disposition.  Nor  can  it  well 
be  otherwise.  A  fencing-school,  properly  conduct- 
ed, is  a  place  of  polished  courtesy,  and  therefore  an 
institution  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  cultivation  of  a 
graceful  deportment,  suavity  of  manners,  and  amen- 
ity of  disposition. — Football  and  handball  are  useful 
exercises.  So  is  swimming,  when  it  can  be  properly 
practised.  Besides  giving  vigor  to  the  muscles,,  the 
latter  contributes  to  health,  by  promoting  cleanliness. 
It  need  scarcely  be  added,  that  the  action  of  salt 
water  on  the  skin,  when  it  can  be  had,  is  considered 
preferable  to  that  of  fresh.  It  is  a  current  and  prob- 
ably a  well-founded  belief,  that  habitual  sea-bathing 
cooperates  with  the  purity  of  a  marine  atmosphere 
in  bestowing  on  islanders  their  unbroken  healthfulness 
and  great  longevity. 

As  an  in-door  exercise,  for  both  males  and 
females,  nothing  is  superior  to  dancing.  Besides 
the  grace  of  movement,  which  it  teaches,  it  gives 
action  and  excitement  to  the  whole  frame,  the  music 
and  social  intercourse  contributing  their  part  to  the 
general  effect.  If  it  sometimes  does  mischief,  by 
being  carried  to  excess, — that  is  an  abuse  of  it,  and 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  65 

does  not  justly  bring  reproach  on  its  proper  use,  or 
furnish  evidence  that  it  ought  to  be  discarded.  As 
well  might  the  use  of  food  be  discarded,  because 
many  persons  abuse  it,  by  eating  too  much.  Ten 
thousand  people  injure  themselves  by  the  abuse  of 
eating,  for  one  who  does  so,  by  that  of  dancing. 
The  exercise  of  swinging  by  the  arms,  if  judiciously  '/ 
practised,  is  beneficial,  especially  to  those  who  have 
weak  chests.  So  is  that  of  the  dumb-bells,  with 
various  others,  to  which  time  does  not  allow  me  to 
refer. 

It  is  of  moment  to  observe,  that  severe  exercise 
should  never  be  taken  during  hot  weather,  or  imme- 
diately after  a  plentiful  meal.     In  the   former  case, 
the  excitement  of  the  exercise,  added  to  that  of  the 
heat,  has  double  force   in  exhausting   vitality,  and 
weakening  the  body ;  and,  in   the   latter,  too  much 
cerebral  influence,  for  the  time,  being   expended  in 
muscular  action,  the  amount  of  it  conveyed  to  the 
stomach   is    insufficient    for  the   laborious   function 
that  viscus    has  to  perform  ;  and  indigestion   is  the 
consequence.     This  fact  constitutes  the  foundation 
of  the  Spaniard's  Siesta,  and   of  the  repose,  which, 
under  the  guidance  of  instinct,  most  of  the  inferior 
animals  take  after  a  copious  repast.     On  the  same 
ground,  the  savage  of  our  forests,  after  overgorging 
himself,  often  consumes  a  natural  day  in  the  sleep  of 
digestion.     But  it  is  a  dreamy  sleep,  the  brain  being 
disturbed   by  the   toils  of  the  stomach.     It  is  the 
source  of  those  visions  of  war  and  hunting,  whioJi, 
6* 


6^6  PHYSICAL   EDUCATION. 

occurring  in  a  brave,  are  often  received  as  premoni- 
tions to  action. 

Such  are  sonie  of  the  useful  effects  of  muscular 
exercise,  but  not  the  whole  of  them.  To  speak 
summarily  of  it.  By  its  aid,  in  maturing,  vitalizing^ 
and  circulating  the  blood,  that  form  of  exercise  con- 
tributes to  the  vitality  of  the  whole  system,  to  the 
size  and  tone  of  every  organ,  and  the  soundness  and 
vigor  of  every  function  of  it,  the  moral  and  intellec- 
tual ones  not  excepted.  Nor  is  this  all.  Added  to 
its  enlarging  and  strengthening  the  muscles  them- 
selves, it  gives  them  a  promptitude  and  an  adroitness 
of  action,  important  in  most  of  the  concerns  of  life. 
What  is  man,  without  a  vigorous  and  well-trained 
system  of  muscles  ? — instruments  which  he  can  turn 
with  ease  and  effect,  to  any  occupation,  in  which  his 
fortune  may  summon  him  to  engage  ? — which  he  can 
apply,  at  will,  to  matters  of  business,  pastime,  or 
pleasure?  Without  such  muscular  discipline  and 
power,  he  would  be  wretched  in  himself,  and  a 
cipher  in  the  world.  Nor  is  the  whole  yet  told. 
Elegance  and  symmetry  of  person,  beauty  of  com- 
plexion, vivacity  and  force  of  expression,  grace  of 
motion,  and  all  else  that  is  attractive  in  human  na- 
ture, depend,  in  a  high  degree,  on  well-directed 
muscular  exercise. 

Much  is  said  about  matter  being  a  clog  on  mind  ; 
and  that  the  soul  is  incarcerated  within  the  body, 
like  a  prisoner  in  his  cell.  The  sentiment  is  as  im- 
pious, as  it  is  untrue.  Matter  clog  and  incarcerate 
mind,  and  prevent  it  from  acting  in  a  manner  suita- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  67 

ble  to  its  powers!  The  assertion  is  a  slander  on 
Him  who  made  and  governs  both  mind  and  matter. 
If  the  inferior  substance  be  thus  prejudicial  to  the 
superior,  and  so  unworthy  of  it,  as  many  pronounce 
it,  why  did  the  Deity  link  them  together  ?  No  good 
motive  could  have  led  him  to  this  ;  and  who  will 
dare  to  charge  him  with  an  evil  one  ?  Did  he  unite 
them  through  inadvertence  or  mistake,  or  because 
he  did  not  know  what  influence  matter  would  have 
on  mind,  until  he  had  made  the  experiment  ?  or,  did 
they,  when  created,  rush  together  forcibly,  he  hav- 
ing no  power  to  restrain  them  ?  Did  he  yoke  them, 
in  sport  and  wantonness,  that  they  might  fall  to  civil 
war,  and  try  which  could  do  the  other  most  harm,  he 
enjoying  their  strife  and  suffering,  as  an  amusement? 
or,  was  his  motive  a  desire  to  show,  how  unharmoni- 
ously  and  incongruously  he  could  pack  the  works  of 
creation  together  ?  No  one  will  openly  impute  to 
him  faults  or  weaknesses  like  these.  Yet  all  virtu- 
ally ^o  that,  or  something  worse,  who  pronounce 
matter  a  hindrance  to  mind,  in  any  of  its  operations. 
For  aught  that  man  can  show  to  the  contrary,  mind 
would  be  as  imbecile  without  matter,  as  matter 
would  be,  without  mind.  What  can  the  latter  do, 
without  the  aid  of  the  former?  Can  it  see,  hear,  taste, 
^mell,  feel,  or  move  ?  Can  it  lift  a  pound  weight, 
make  a  pin  or  a  pen,  or  use  them  if  already  made, 
think,  reason,  judge,  or  perform  a  single  useful  act, 
intellectual  or  moral,  theoretical  or  practical  ?  If  it 
can,  let  that  act  be  specified  and  proved.  I  say 
*  proved,'  because  I  wish  for  realities^  not  supposi- 


68  l»HVStCAL    EDUCATION. 

tions,  or  fancies,  I  know  we  are  told  that  the  mind 
can  do  wonders,  without  the  body — that  it  can  trav- 
erse all  space,  with  more  than  lightning's  speed- 
outstrip  light,  in  journeying  from  world  to  world,  to 
study  and  enjoy  the  beauties,  sublimities,  and  gran- 
deur of  the  universe — that,  if  disencumbered  of  the 
shackles  of  matter,  all  creation  would  be  subject  to 
its  inspection,  ministering  immediately  to  its  informa- 
tion and  delight — all  these  things,  and  many  more, 
are  told  to  us.  But  they  are  only  told.  They  are 
not  proved.  Far  from  it.  The  contrary  is  proved, 
by  evidence  which  we  cannot  doubt.  All  that  the 
mind  has  any  knowledge  of,  is  matter.  Of  spirit,  as 
already  stated,  it  knows  nothing.  And  all  the 
means  it  employs  to  acquire  knowledge,  are  matter. 
It  sees  with  a  material  eye,  hears  with  a  material 
ear,  thinks  with  a  material  brain,  and  moves,  fromi 
place  to  place,  in  quest  of  information  and  pleasure, 
with  material  muscles  and  bones.  Every  imple- 
ment, moreover,  in  addition  to  those  received  from 
nature,  which  it  uses,  either  in  science  or  art,  are  of 
matter.  The  mechanician  works  with  matter,  on 
matter.  The  chemist  analyzes  matter,  by  matter. 
The  navigator  triumphs  by  matter,  over  the  world 
of  waters,  which  are  themselves  matter ;  and  the  as- 
tronomer scans  the  heavens,  with  nothing  else.  Nor 
does  saying  and  believing  all  this  amount  to  materi- 
alism. Or  if  it  does,  materialism  is  truth  ;  and,  re- 
gardless of  names,  that  is  all  I  want.  The  entire 
doctrine  comes  to  this,  and  nothing  more.  Mind, 
being  the  superior  agent,  uses  matter,  to  effect  pur- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  69 

poses,  it  could  not  attaia  without  it ;  as  the  chieftain 
gains  a  victory,  with  his  soldiers,  which  he  could  not 
achieve  alone.  He  is  as  really  the  governing  spirit 
of  his  army,  as  the  mind  is  of  the  human  body.  It 
will  be  understood  and  remembered,  that  I  have 
been  speaking  of  mind,  in  our  present  state  of  being. 
The  discussion  of  its  powers  and  prerogatives,  in  a 
future  state,  is  the  province  of  others. 

The  inference  to  be  deduced  from  the  premises 
just  stated,  is,  that  physical  education,  which  consists 
in  the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  our  material 
organs,  is  a  work  infinitely  more  important  than  it  is 
generally  supposed  to  be.  In  fact,  it  alone,  accord- 
ing as  it  is  well  or  ill  conducted,  can  raise  human 
nature  to  the  highest  pitch  of  perfection,  of  which  it 
is  susceptible,  or  sink  it  to  the  lowest  point  of  degra- 
dation. No  language,  therefore,  can  too  strongly 
recommend,  nor  any  measures  too  strictly  enforce 
the  duty  of  practising  it. 

The  physical  education  of  the  brain  shall  now  be 
the  subject  of  a  few  remarks.  I  say  'physical,'  for 
it  is  as  susceptible  of  that  form  of  education,  as  any 
other  organ.  So  true  is  this,  that  it  is  the  only  form 
it  can  receive.  And  were  that  brought  to  perfection, 
nothing  more  could  be  done,  nor  would  aught  more 
be  requisite,  for  the  improvement  of  mind.  For,  as 
already  mentioned  and  explained,  cerebral  and  men- 
tal education  are  the  same.  Here,  again,  I  must 
speak  as  a  phrenologist ;  for,  in  no  other  capacity, 
can  I  treat  rationally  of  the  subject  I  am  about  to 
consider. 


70  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

Like  all  other  parts  of  the  system,  the .  brain,  by 
suitable  and  well-regulated  exercise,  is  enlarged,  in- 
vigorated, rendered  more  dexterous  in  action,  and 
therefore  improved,  in  every  respect,  as  the  organ 
of  the  mind.  This  is  as  certain,  as  it  is  that  the 
muscles  themselves  are  improved  by  training.  And, 
as  is  the  case  v^^ith  other  organs,  it  also  may  be  ex- 
hausted and  injured  by  too  much,  and  enfeebled  by 
too  little  action.  For  it  should  nevei'  be  forgotten 
or  neglected,  as  a  practical  truth,  that,  as  action 
strengthens  and  improves  living  matter,  inaction  de- 
teriorates and  weakens  it.  That  is  one  of  the  lead- 
ing principles,  by  which  physical  education  is  to  be 
directed.     Indeed,  it  constitutes  its  foundation. 

The  brain  is  not  a  simple,  but  a  compound  organ. 
I  should  rather  say,  that  it  is  an  aggregate  of  many 
smaller  organs,  distinct  from  each '  other,  yet  closely 
linked  in  their  condition,  by  sympathy.  The  sound- 
ness of  one  of  them  aids  in  giving  soundness  to  the 
others  ;  and  the  converse.  These  organs,  being  the 
instruments  of  separate  mental  faculties,  are  destined 
to  the  performance  of  separate  functions,  no  one  of 
them  being  able  to  perform  any  other  function  than 
its  own ;  as  the  eye  sees,  but  cannot  hear,  and  the 
ear  hears,  but  can  neither  taste  nor  smell.  As  these 
organs,  which  unite  in  making  up  the  cerebral  mass, 
execute  different  sorts  of  work,  so  can  they  work  at 
different  tiroes,  some  of  them  being  active,  while 
others  are  at  rest.  In  this  again,  they  resemble  the 
external  senses ;  for  the  ear  may  be  impressed  with 
sound,  while  the  eyes  are  closed ;  the  eye  may  see, 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  71 

while  the  ears  are  closed ;  and  the  sense  of  smell 
may  be  active,  while  that  of  touch  is  dormant.  The 
cerebral,  organs  moreover,  like  the  external  senses, 
are  excited  to  action,  by  different  objects,  and  kinds 
of  impression.  Thus,  the  eye  is  acted  on,  only  by 
light,  the  ear  by  sound,  and  the  smell,  taste,  and 
touch,  by  odorous,  sapid,  and  tangible  matter.  In 
like  manner,  one  cerebral  organ  is  acted  on  and  ex- 
ercised by  language;  another,  by  form  or  figure;  a 
third  by  size ;  a  fourth  by  number ;  a  fifth  by  place ; 
a  sixth  by  tune ;  a  seventh  and  an  eighth,  by  objects 
and  events  ;  a  ninth  by  color  ;  and  others  again,  by 
the  agents  appropriate  to  them.  Each  one,  how- 
ever, can  be  acted  on  and  exf^rcised  only  by  things  in 
its  own  line-^by  such,  I  mean,  as  specially  corres* 
pond  to  it.  The  same  organ,  for  example,  which 
takes  cognizance  of  size,  and  is  exercised  by  it,  can- 
not be  excited  by  form,  nor  can  that  which  is  acted 
on  by  number,  be  influenced  by  tune,  time,  or  place. 
And  thus  of  all  the  others. 

The  organs  1  have  here  named,  are  intellectual 
ones.  There  are  organs  again,  of  animal  propensity, 
such  as  love,^  resentment,  covetousness,  cunning, 
and  others  of  moral  sentiment,  as  benevolence,  ven- 
eration, justice,  and  firmness.     These  may  likewise 

*  The  reader  will  understand  that  the  cerebral  organs  here 
referred  to,  are  named  in  common  language,  best  suited  to 
those,  to  whom  the  Discourse  was  addressed.  Technically, 
they  are  Amativeness,  Gombativeness,  Acquisitiveness,  Secre- 
tiveness.  Benevolence,  Veneration,  Conscientiousness,  and 
Firmness. 


72  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

be  excited  to  action,  strengthened,  and  improved, 
each  by  its  own  peculiar  agent  and  form  of  impres- 
sion;  and  they  may  all  be  enfeebled,  by  a  state  of 
inaction.  For  I  again  repeat,  that  it  is  suitable  ac- 
tion alone,  which  amends  living  matter,  including 
that  of  every  description,  while  a  want  of  action  de- 
teriorates it,  to  the  same  extent. 

This,  though  a  very  defective  analysis  of  the 
brain,  is  sufficient,  I  trust,  to  render  intelligible  any 
remarks  I  have  yet  to  offer ;  whereas,  without  it, 
there  is  reason  to  beJieve  that  I  should  not  have  been 
understood — an  apprehension  to  that  effect,  is  my 
reason  for  troubling  you  with  this  detail. 

The  perfect  pliysical  education  of  the  brain  con- 
sists in  the  competent  exercise  of  every  portion  of 
it;  so  that  each  of  its  organs  may  possess  due 
strength  and  activity,  and  be  itself  healthy  ;  and 
that  there  may  exist  between  them  the  equilibrium 
necessary  to  the  health  and  regulated  action  of  the 
whole.  If  one  or  more  organs  be  exercised  too 
much,  they  may  become  exhausted  and  debilitated, 
excited  to  inflammation,  or  a  condition  bordering  on 
it,  and  not  less  truly  morbid  ;  while  others,  being 
exercised  too  little,  or  not  at  all,  will  be  enfeebled 
by  inaction.  And  ihus  must  the  health,  not  only 
of  the  brain,  but  of  the  whole  system  suffer.  For  I 
have  already  observed,  and  need  scarcely  repeat, 
that  the  brain  being  one  of  the  ruling  viscera  of  the 
system,  any  derangement  of  it,  must  injure  the  con- 
dition of  all  the  others.  I  shall  only  add,  that 
cerebral  organs  are  .prone  to  become  exhausted,  or 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  73 

inflamed,  according  to  their  character.  Are  they 
small,  phlegmatic,  and  feeble  ?  severe  exercise  pros- 
trates them.  Are  they  large,  high  toned,  and 
vigorous  ?  intense  exercise  inflames  them,  or  produ- 
ces in  them  such  irritability  and  inordinate  action,  as 
derange  the  balance  of  the  brain,  excite  mental 
irregularities,  and  lay  the  foundation  of  cerebral  dis- 
ease. 

This  view  of  the  subject  shows  the  propriety  and 
advantage  of  pupils  pursuing  several  studies,  or 
modes  of  mental  exercise,  at  the  same  time,  instead 
of  being  confined  exclusively  to  one.  It  sui;gests, 
moreover  the  reason  of  it.  By  changing  from  one 
study  to  another  successively,  in  the  same  day,  those 
who  are  cultivating  science  and  letters,  not  only 
learn  much  more  than  they  could,  under  confine- 
ment to  a  single  study,  but  do  so  with  less  exhaus- 
tion and  danger  to  health.  Why  ?  Because,  by 
closely  studying  one  branch  of  knowledge  only,  in 
other  words,  by  laboring  all  day  with  one  cerebral 
organ,  it  becomes  exhausted  and  dull,  as  every  in- 
dustrious student  must  have  felt.  When  thus  worn 
out,  therefore,  by  toil,  not  only  is  it  unfit  to  exercise 
further,  with  due  efl*ect,  and  master  its  task ;  but  its 
health  is  endangered,  if  not,  for  the  time,  actually 
injured.  It  is  in  a  fatigued  condition,  vj^hich  borders 
on  a  diseased  one,  and  often  excites  it.  W^hen,  on 
the  contrary,  the  pupil,  feeling  himself  becoming  unfit 
for  one  study,  passes  to  another,  he  engages  in  the  lat- 
ter with  a  fresh  and  active  organ,  and  makes  rapid 
progress  in  it,  until,  beginning  to  be  again  fatigued  and 
7 


74  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

dull,  he  changes  to  a  third,  or  returns  to  that  pre- 
viously relinquished,  the  organ  corresponding  to  it 
being  reinvigorated  by  rest.  To  illustrate  my  views, 
by  examples  familiar  to  every  individual,  who  has 
received  an  education. 

If  the  pupil  begin  the  study  of  language,  say  of 
Greek  or  Latin,  in  the  morning,  and  continue  it, 
during  the  whole  day,  he  will  be  so  toil-worn  and 
dull,  by  night,  as  to  be  scarcely  able  to  distinguish  a 
noun  from  a  verb.  But  if,  instead  of  this  injudicious 
and  unprofitable  course,  he  pursue  the  study  of  lan- 
guage two  or  three  hours,  then  pass  to  mathematics, 
and  next  to  geography  or  history,  continuing  each 
form  of  exercise,  a.reasonable  time — by  thus  chang- 
ing the  working  organs,  and  allowing  them  alternately 
to  refresh  themselves  by  rest,  he  may  study  with 
equal  intenseness,  and  an  equal  number  of  hours  in 
the  day,  and,  by  night,  feeling  little  or  no  fatigue, 
have  acquired  much  more  knowledge,  at  a  less  risk 
of  health,  than  he  could  have  done  by  the  protracted 
toil  of  a  single  organ.  Independently  of  the  attain- 
ment made  in  history  and  geography,  he  will  have  a 
clearer  and  better  knowledge  even  of  his  task  in  lan- 
guage, than  he  would  have  acquired,  had  he  brooded 
over  it  during  the  whole  day.  Shifting  the  toil,  in 
this  manner,  from  one  organ  to  another,  is  like 
bringing  fresh  soldiers  into  battle,  to  relieve  their 
exhausted  comrades,  or  hands  not  yet  fatigued,  to 
the  labors  of  the  harvest  field.  By  such  changes, 
judiciously  made,  success  is  achieved ;  while  any 
other  mode  of  proceeding  would  result  in  failure. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  75 

Connected  with  this  topic  are  two  points,  on 
which  I  am  anxious  to  fix  your  attention,  because  I 
consider  them  peculiarly  important.  Much  of  their 
importance,  moreover,  arises  from  their  being  exclu- 
sively practical ;  and  from  the  further  fact,  that  seri- 
ous and  even  fatal  errors,  in  relation  to  them,  are 
often  committed. 

That  1  may  be  the  more  easily  and  perfectly  un- 
derstood, I  shall  repeat  what  has  been  already  stated, 
that  very  weak  and  dull  organs,  and  very  powerful 
and  active  ones,  are  differently  aftected,  by  exces- 
sive exercise.  The  former  are  prostrated  and  ren- 
dered uQfit  for  action,  as  a  feeble  and  phlegmatic 
nian  is,  by  danger  and  oppression  ;  while,  like  a 
brave  and  powerful  man,  of  a  fiery  temperament, 
the  latter  are  roused  to  high  excitement,  and  per- 
haps inflammation.  Occurrences  in  illustration  and 
proof  of  this,  are  not  unfrequent  in  seats  of  learning. 

Parents  or  guardians  resolve,  {hat  a  youth,  whose 
organs  of  language,  size,  and  number,  are  small  and 
feeble,  shall  notwithstanding,  be  made  a  linguist,  and 
a  mathematician.  To  effect  this,  the  pupil  is  com- 
pelled, or  in  some  way  induced,  to  labor  to  excess, 
with  his  feeble  organs,  which  are  easily  worn  out, 
until  the  exhaustion  and  injury  they  have  sustained 
prove  prejudicial  and  perhaps  ruinous  to  his  other 
organs,  which  are  of  a  better  cast,  as  well  as  to  his 
general  health.  Fatuity  and  insanity  have  been  thus 
brought  on.  Again, — Another  pupil  has  the  same 
organs  in  fine  deyelopement,  and  highly  excitable, 
active,  and  vigorous.     His  talents  for  language  and 


76  PHYSKJAL    EDUCATION. 

mathematics,  are  discovered  to  be  of  the  first  order, 
and  both  he  and  his  friends  are  aiT>bitiaus  that  he 
should  excel  in  the  knowledge  of  them.  Hence  he 
is  encouraged  and  incited  to  pursue  the  study  of 
them,  with  such  ardor  and  perseverance,  as  to  pro- 
duce in  the  organs  exercised,  a  state  of  intense  and 
morbid  irritation,  and  perhaps  inflammation.  By 
this  imprudent  excitement,  madness  and  phrenitis, 
with  other  grievous  maladies  of  the  brain,  have  been 
repeatedly  induced.  Of  the  indiscreet  and  exces- 
sive exercise  of  other  strong  and  feeble  organs, 
whether  animal,  moral,  or  intellectual,,  the  same  is 
true. 

Is  any  one  inclined  to  ask  me,  how  he  is  to  know 
when  a  youth  possesses  weak,  and  when  strong  or- 
gans, for  particular  studies?  The  answer  is  easy* 
The  practical  phrenologist  makes  the  discovery  by 
virtue  of  his  art,  and  is  rarely  mistaken.  Dr.  Spurz- 
heim  did  this  in  Boston,  in  scores  of  instances,  to  the 
surprise  and  delight  of  many  of  the  most  enlightened 
inhabitants  of  the  place.  And  in  Edinburgh,  Lon- 
don, Dublin,  and  Paris,  and  other  parts  of  Great 
Britain  and  France,  the  practice  has  become  so 
common,  that  it  surprises  no  longer.  There  being, 
however,  unfortunately  but  few  practical  phrenolo- 
gists in  our  country,  those  who  are  not  so,  may, 
from  the  following  considerations,  derive  some  por- 
tion of  the  knowledge  desired.  Every  one  takes 
pleasure  in  the  exercise  of  his  well-developed  and 
vigorous  organs,  and  exerts  them  with  good  effect ; 
and  the  reverse.     The  exercise  of  his  feeble  ones. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  77 

is  a  matter  of  indifference,  if  not  dissatisfaction  to 
him ;  and  he  makes  but  little  progress  in  any  study- 
in  which  they  are  chiefly  concerned.  Has  a  pupil, 
for  example,  a  predominant  taste  for  language,  mu- 
sic, painting,  and  mechanical  handicraft,  or  either  of 
them  ?  and  does  he  make  attainments  in  them,  with 
ease  and  rapidity  ?  his  organs  and  faculties  for  them 
are  good.  Is  the  reverse  of  this  the  case  ?  his  organs 
for  them  are  feeble.  The  practical  precept  deduci- 
ble  from  this  statement  is  plain.  Never  urge  a  pupil 
to  an  excessive  exertion  of  feeble  cerebral  organs,  it  ] 
being  both  useless  and  dangerous — useless,  because  I 
he  can,  in  no  way,  become  respectable  himself,  or 
render  high  services  to  others,  by  them ;  and  dan-  ^ 
'  gerous,  because  it  may  impair  his  intellect,  and  de- 
stroy his  health.  For  the  same  reason,  do  not 
encourage  or  permit  a  youth  to  persevere  to  excess 
in  the  exercise  of  highly  sensitive  and  vigorous 
organs.  The  practice  is  like  exposing  an  irritable 
or  an  inflamed  eye  to  a  glare  of  light,  or  assailing  a 
phrenitic  brain  with  piercing  sounds.  By  a  strict 
observance  of  these  precepts,  in  seats  of  education, 
much  time  might  be  saved,  which  is  now  wasted, 
much  evil  prevented,  and  much  good  done.  The 
necessity  of  their  enforcement  is  strengthened  by 
the  fact,  that  children  and  youth  of  precocious  and 
large  developments,  and  unusually  active  and  vigor- 
ous talents,  possess,  in  general,  delicate,  and  some- 
times feeble  constitutions.  Their  systems  are  there- 
fore the  more  easily  deranged,  and  should  be  guarded 
with  the  greater  care. 
7# 


78  PHySICAL    EDUCATION. 

From  the  preceding  facts,  another  important  pre- 
cept may  be  drawn.  Of  a  boy,  whose  whole  braio 
is  unusually  small,  never  attempt  to  make  a  scholar, 
a  professional  character,  or  a  man  of  science.  The 
effort  will  not  only  eventuate  in  failure,  but  may 
prove  ruinous  to  health.  In  a  particular  manner,  it 
may  induce  fatuity,  should  the  feeble-brained  indi- 
vidual become  severely  studious.  As  well  might 
you  attempt  to  convert  a  dwarf  into  a  grenadier,  as 
a  person  with  a  very  small  head,  into  a  man  of  a 
powerful  and  expanded  intellect.  Nor  would  it  be 
less  vain  to  endeavor.to  imbue  with  learning  or  sci- 
ence, a  boy,  whose  brain  is  unusually  large,  in  the 
animal  compartment,  and  small  in  the  intellectual 
and  moral  ones.  Such  an  individual  is  formed,  by 
nature,  for  a  low  sphere  of  mind,  and  no  effort  in 
education,  can  elevate  him.  Nor,  could  any  train- 
ing render  him  studious,  would  he  be  less  liable  to 
some  kind  of  mental  alienation,  than  the  youth, 
whose  entire  brain  is  small.  Individuals  thus  organ- 
ized, may  become  great  animals,  and  may  even  per- 
form striking  and  impressive  actions;  but  they  can 
never  attain  rank,  as  men  of  intellect.  In  war,  they 
may  be  brave  and  useful  soldiers,  and  inferior  offi- 
cers, but  must  be  totally  incompetent  to  high  com- 
mand. 

Does  any  one  doubt,  whether  the  moral  organs  and 
faculties  can  be  exercised,  and  moral  feelings  in- 
dulged in  to  excess  ?  and  whether,  in  physical  edu- 
cation, they  ought  to  be,  in  any  cases,  restrained  ? 
Is  it,  on  the  contrary,  the  belief,  that  the  more  high- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  79 

toned  every  thing  belonging  to  our  moral  nature  is, 
its  perfection  is  the  greater  ?  Let  all  doubt  and  delu- 
sion, on  these  points,  be  removed,  by  the  recollec- 
tion, that  the  organ  of  benevolence  becomes,  by  in- 
ordinate excitement,  so  far  deranged,  in  many  per- 
sons, as  to  induce  them  to  squander  their  estates,  to 
the  ruin  of  themselves  and  their  families,  in  wild  and 
unpro6tabIe  charities,  and  other  acts  of  morbid  gen- 
erosity ;  while,  by  the  ultra-excitement  of  veneration, 
hope,  and  wonder,  others  become  religiously  insane. 
Castle-building,  running  into  mental  derangement,  as 
it  often  does,  is  likewise  the  product  of  inordinate 
action  in  moral  organs.  Go  to  a  mad-house,  and  you 
will  find  fiery  and  vociferous  religious  insanity  one 
of  the  common  aflTections  of  its  inmates.  Every 
leaning  of  this  sort,  inordinately  strong,  should  be 
moderated  in  children,  by  some  form  of  counter-ex- 
citement. I  mean,  by  giving,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
feelings  and  thoughts  a  different  direction.  Yet  the 
practice  is  too  often  the  reverse  of  this.  The  youth- 
ful are  encouraged  in  their  enthusiastic  devotions,  un- 
til madness  strikes  them.  Hence,  on  every  occur- 
rence of  a  new  sect  or  denomination  in  religion,  as 
well  as  in  most  cases  of  what  are  called  revivals, 
religious  enthusiasm  effervesces,  in  many  instances, 
into  wild  insanity.  That  there  is  much  madness 
among  the  new  sects  of  Mormonites,  and  Immortal- 
ists,  no  one  can  doubt.  The  cause  is,  ultra-excite- 
ment in  some  portion  of  the  moral  compartment  of 
the  brain.     Even  the  sentiment  of  conscientiousness 


80  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

may  run  to  excess,  and  become  productive  of  unrea- 
sonable scrupulousness  and  demur. 

The  great  end  of  the  physical  education  of  the 
brain,  as  already  intimated,  is  to  strengthen  the  whole 
of  it,  and  maintain  a  due  balance  between  its  sev- 
eral parts.  What  is  commonly  called  eccentricity^ 
brown  study ^  or  absence  of  mind,  is  but  another  name 
for  a  want  of  such  balance,  and  is  a  true  and  dan- 
gerous bent  towards  madness.  Augment  it  to  a  suf- 
ficient extent ;  in  other  words,  excite  sufficiently  the 
irregular  and  extravagant  organ,  and  real  madness 
is  the  result.  Hence,  most  persons,  who  become 
insane,  especially  those  who  fall  into  hereditary  in- 
sanity, exhibit  in  their  characters,  even  from  child- 
hood, some  uncommon  and  ominous  traits  —  some- 
thing that  is  called  eccentric  or  queer.  In  proof  of 
this,  the  histories  of  the  tenants  of  Lunatic  Hospitals 
furnish  abundant  testimony.^  They  show,  that  a  large 
majority  of  those  unfortunate  individuals  had  been 
more  or  less  eccentric.  The  evil  consists  in  a  state 
of  supra-excitement  and  action,  in  some  of  the  cere- 
bral organs.  And  physical  education  alone  can 
remedy  it.  Take  the  following  anecdote,  as  an  il- 
lustration of  my  meaning.  A  gentleman  of  Philadel- 
phia, highly  distinguished  for  his  talents  and  standing, 
was  subject  to  fits  of  extraordinary  absence  of  mind, 
. —  in  other  words,  to  such  entire  absorption  in  the 
working  of  one  or  two  of  his  cerebral  organs,  as  to 
be  insensible  to  that  of  all  the  others.  He  once  in- 
vited a  large  number  of  his  friends  to  dinner.  On 
the  appointed  day,  the  guests  assembled,  in  his  draw- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  81 

ing-roon3,  where  be  met  them  with  his  usual  wel- 
come and  courtesy,  and  conversed  with  them,  with 
his  accustomed  sprightlines  and  good  sense.  He  be- 
came, at  length,  silent  and  abstracted,  mused  for  a 
minute  or  two,  and  then,  bowing  to  the  company, 
begged  them  to  excuse  him,  as  he  had  an  urgent 
piece  of  business  to  transact  immediately.  One  of 
the  gentlemen,  well  acquainted  with  the  irregularity 
of  his  mind,  addressing  him  familiarly,  by  his  chris- 
tian name,  asked  him  '  Did  you  not  invite  us  to  dine 
with  you  to-day  ? ' — '  Did  I  ? '  said  he — '  perhaps  so — 
I'll  see.'  He  stepped  into  his  dining-room,  where  a 
table  was  sumptuously  spread  for  him  and  his  friends. 
Returning  to  the  company,  he  joined  them,  first  in 
merriment  at  his  absent  fit,  and  then  in  the  pleasures 
of  the  repast.  The  sequel  is  melancholy.  He  be- 
came deranged  in  his  mind,  and  died  in  that  condi- 
tion, in  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital. 

As  already  suggested,  the  cure  of  this  evil  is  to 
be  performed,  by  giving  rest  to  the  over-active  cere- 
bral organs,  and  transferring  the  excitement  to  some 
of  the  others,  that  are  less  irritable.  Phrenology 
.teaches  the  mode  of  conducting  this  process,  on 
which  a  want  of  time  forbids  me  to  dilate.  Permit 
me,  however,  to  observe,  that  its  power  to  weaken, 
and,  by  its  continued  operation,  through  successive 
generations,  ultimately  eradicate  a  hereditary  predis- 
position to  madness,  gives  physical  education  much 
of  its  value.  In  fact,  that  form  of  education,  (I  mean 
physical)  hitherto  so  much  neglected,  and  still  so  im- 
perfectly understood  and  practised,  may  be  pronoun- 


82  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

ced  the  arbiter  of  the  human  mind,  no  less  than  of 
the  human  body.  Its  influence  in  strengthening  or 
weakening,  improving  or  deteriorating,  all  kinds  of 
mental  faculties  and  operations,  is  far  greater  than 
is  commonly  imagined.  Through  its  instrumentality 
alone  can  man  attain,  in  mind  as  well  as  body,  the 
highest  perfection  of  which  he  is  susceptible.  It  is 
destined,  therefore,  to  be  the  chief  agent,  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  millennium,  at  whatever  period  that 
improved  condition  of  our  race  may  occur.  This  is 
as  certain  as  it  is,  that  a  well-directed  physical  edu- 
cation is  the  principal  means  to  improve,  to  the  high- 
est pitch,  the  qualities  of  our  domestic  animals. 
And  that  truth  will  not  be  controverted. 

Let  it  never  be  forgotten,  then,  that  the  physical 
education  of  the  human  race  ought  not  to  be  confin- 
ed alone  to  the  humble  object  of  preventing  disease. 
Its  aim  should  be  loftier  and  more  in  accordance 
with  the  desuny  and  character  of  its  subject — to  raise 
man  to  the  summit  of  his  nature.  And  such  will  be 
its  scope,  in  future  and  more  enlightened  times. 

In  saying,  that  to  promote  and  secure  the  health 
of  the  human  system  the  brain  should  be  educated 
and  amended,  I  mean,  as  already  intimated,  the 
whole  brain ;  its  animal  and  moral,  as  well  as  its  in- 
tellectual compartments.  It  is  only  by  a  general 
and  judicious  training,  that  the  proper  equilibrium 
between  the  cerebral  organs  can  be  established  and 
maintained.  And  that  equilibrium  is  as  necessary  to 
the  sound  condition  of  the  whole  body,  as  to  that  of 
the  brain  itself.     It  produces  an   equipoise  of  the 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  83 

entire  man,  and  holds  in  check  the  irregularities  and 
excesses  of  both  feeling  and  action,  which  prey  on 
life,  and  tend  to  shorten  it.  Hence  long-lived  indi- 
viduals have  usually  possessed  a  marked  calmness 
and  equability  of  character.  Why  ?  Because  their 
brains  have  been  well  balanced.  If  their  feelings 
were  strong,  so  were  their  powers  to  control  them. 
Men  of  a  burning  temper  and  boisterous  disposition, 
who  are  perpetually  running  into  extremes,  and  who 
pass  much  of  their  time  between  sinning  and  repent- 
ing, rarely  attain  to  a  very  advanced  age.  The  rea- 
son is  obvious.  Their  health  and  strength  are  con- 
sumed in  their  own  fires  ;  and  those  fires  come  from 
the  brain ;  I  mean  its  animal  compartment.  That 
portion  is  the  seat  of  what  is  usually  termed  pas- 
sion^ which,  when  fierce  and  unrestrained,  resembles 
intemperance  in  the  use  of  strong  drink.  It  inflames 
or  otherwise  deranges  the  brain,  hastens  the  approach 
of  old  age,  and  curtails  life,  on  the  same  principles. 
In  delicate  and  irritable  systems,  it  often  excites  con- 
vulsions, and  sometimes  palsy,  apoplexy,  and  mad- 
ness. 

The  following  facts  testify  to  the  truth  of  the  prin- 
ciples just  laid  down.  The  life  of  wonien  is  more  se- 
cure than  that  of  men.  In  other  words,  fewer  of 
them  die  in  a  given  period.  In  each  census  of  the 
British  empire,  the  number  of  women  is  found  to  be 
greater  than  that  of  men.  Yet  there  are  more  males 
than  females  born  in  the  empire,  in  the  proportion 
of  105  to  100.  Though  war,  casualty,  migration 
and  death  in  foreign  and  sickly  countries,  account  for 


84  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

this  in  part,  they  are  insufficient  for  the  solution  of 
the  entire  problem.  The  greater  strength,  more  fre- 
quent and  unrestrained  bursts,  and  more  constant 
burning  of  the  passions,  of  men,  contribute  to  the 
event. 

Again.  The  less  impassionate  the  pursuits  of  men 
of  genius  are,  the  greater  is  the  average  longevity  of 
each  class  of  them.  Mathematicians  and  natural 
philosophers  have  but  little  in  their  studies  to  excite 
feeling  or  stir  up  passion.  The  tenor  of  their  lives 
is  generally  tranquil.  Hence  the  aggregate  age  of 
twenty  of  them,  taken  promiscuously,  has  been 
found  to  amount  to  1504  years,  giving  to  each  the 
average  of  75. 

Poets,  on  the  contrary,  are  proverbially  an  '  irri- 
table genus,^  —  men  of  strong  and  easily  excited 
feelings,  and  a  burning  imagination.  Their  produc- 
tions, moreover,  being  works  of  passion,  their  minds 
must  be  in  tumult,  during  their  composition.  From 
these  causes,  the  aggregate  age  of  twenty  distinguish- 
ed poets  has  been  ascertained  to  be  1144  years,  giv- 
ing to  each  an  average  of  57  —  a  very  striking  bal- 
ance in  favor  of  a  mind  free  from  passion ! 

In  our  efforts  to  produce  an  equipoise  in  the  brain, 
one  fact  should  be  held  in  remembrance,  and  ob- 
served, as  a  leading  ground  of  action.  By  nature, 
the  animal  organs  are  larger  and  more  powerful  than 
the  moral  or  intellectual.  This  is  the  case  in  every 
one,  but  in  some  individuals  much  more  strikingly  so 
than  in  others.  It  is  true  of  man,  therefore,  that  he 
possesses,  naturally,  more  of  animality,  than  of  real 


I 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  85 

humanity.  Hence  the  connparative  ferocity  and  sav- 
ageism  of  the  uneducated.  Why  ?  Because  their  an- 
mal  organs,  never  having  been  restrained  and  tamed, 
predominate  greatly  over  their  moral  and  intellectu- 
al, more  especially  over  their  reflective  ones.  This 
constitutes  the  chief  difference  between  the  culti- 
vated and  the  uncultivated  portions  of  our  race.  The 
latter  are  more  of  animals  ;    the  former  more  of  men. 

This  view  of  the  subject  indicates  clearly  the 
leading  purpose  of  the  physical  education  of  the  brain. 
It  is  to  strengthen  the  moral  and  intellectual  organs, 
by  exciting  them  to  action,  each  in  a  manner  corres- 
ponding to  its  nature,  and  to  weaken  comparatively 
the  animal  organs,  by  restraining  their  action.  Thus 
will  the  former  attain,  by  degrees,  such  an  ascenden- 
cy over  the  latter,  as  to  be  able  to  control  them,  and 
give  calmness  and  equability  to  the  character  of  the 
individual  —  to  convert  the  rude  animal  into  the  cul- 
tivated man.  Nor  is  the  condition  of  the43rain  thus 
produced,  less  friendly  to  the  welfare  of  the  body, 
than  to  the  sound  operations  of  the  mind. 

The  influence  of  strong  and  well-cultivated  morals^ 
and  intellectual  organs  on  the  general  health  of  the 
system  is  soothing  and  salutary,  and  feeds  and 
strengthens  it,  instead  of  rufiiing  and  wearing  it 
out.  Compared  to  the  influetice  of  the  organs  of 
passion,  it  is  as  mild  and  wholesome  nourishment, 
contrasted  with  alcohol :  or  like  the  genial  warmth 
of  the  spring  and  autumn,  to  the  burning  heats  of 
summer.  Life,  and  health,  and  comfort  may  last 
long  under  the  former,  while  all  is  parched  and  with- 
8 


86  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

ered  by  the  latter.  Finally  :  a  well-cultivated  aad 
well-balanced  brain,  does  much  to  produce  and 
raaintain,  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body.  Let  the 
attainment  of  it  therefore  be  a  leading  aim,  in  phys- 
ical education. 

Of  innumerable  instances  that  might  be  dted,  iff 
proof  of  the  principle  here  contended  for,  I  ahali  refer 
to  but  one ;  and  that  is  memorable  in  the  history 
of  our  country.  The  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  signed  by  fifty-six  Delegates,  all  of  them  men 
of  well-cultivated  and  well-balanced  minds.  In  oth- 
er words,  their  moral  and  intellectual  had  gained  the 
requisite  ascendency  over  their  animal  organs.  Of 
these,  two  died  of  casualties,  in  the  prime  of  man- 
hood. The  aggregate  of  the  years  of  the  other  fifty- 
four  was  3,609,  giving  to  each  an  average  of  66  years 
and  9  months ;  an  illustrious  example  of  the  influ- 
ence of  well-cultivated  and  regulated  brains,  in  con- 
ferring longevity  on  those  who  possess  them.  Sev- 
eral of  these  great  and  good  men  lived  beyond  their 
eightieth  year,  and  some  of  them  passed  the  age  of 
ninety.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  avoidance 
of  all  forms  of  excess,  and  the  general  correctness  of 
the  habits  produced,  by  this  condition  of  the  brain, 
contributes  materially  to  the  prolongation  of  life. 
The  venerable  Madison,  of  a  feeble  frame,  posses- 
es  one  of  the  best-cultivated  and  balanced  minds  that 
ever  existed  ;  and  he  is  now  in  his  eighty-fifth  year. 

The  importance  of  the  judicious  education  and 
general  management  of  the  brain,  and  the  serious 
evils  arising  from  neglect  and  errors  in  them,  lead 


PirrSICAL    EDUCATION.  87 

me,  though  somewhat  out  of  my  immediate  track, 
to  make  a  few  further  remarks  on  the  subject.  My 
sense  of  duty,  and  therefore  ray  ruling  motive  to 
this  effect  is  the  stronger,  in  consideration  of  the 
fact,  that  the  thoughts  I  have  to  offer  apply  more 
forcibly  to  our  own  country  than  to  any  other. 

Dyspepsia  and  mental  derangement  are  among  the 
most  grievous  maladies  that  affect  the  human  race; 
and  they  are  much  more  nearly  allied  to  each  other 
than  they  are  generally  supposed  to  be.  So  true  is 
this,  that  the  one  is^  not  unfrequently  converted  into 
the  other,  and  often  alternates  with  it.  The  lunatic 
is  usually  a  dyspeptic,  during  his  lucid  intervals  ;  and 
complaints,  which  begin  in  some  form  of  gastric  de- 
rangement, turn,  in  many  instances,  to  madness. 
Nor  is  this  all.  In  families,  where  mental  derange- 
ment is  hereditary,  the  members,  who  escape  that 
complaiut,  are  more  than  usually  obnoxious  to  dys- 
pepsia. It  maybe  added,  that  dyspeptics  and  lu- 
natics are  relieved  by  the  same  modes  of  treatment, 
and  that  their  maladies  are  induced,  for  the  most 
part,  by  the  same  causes.       . 

Somewhat  in  confirmation  of  these  views,  it  may 
be  further  stated,  that  dyspepsia  and  madness  pre- 
vail more  extensively  in  the  United  States,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  our  inhabitants,  than  among 
the  people  of  any  other  nation.  Of  the  amount  of 
our  dyspeptics  no  estimate  can  be  formed  ;  but  it  is 
immense.  Whether  we  inquire  in  cities,  towns,  vil- 
lages, or  country  places,  among  the  rich,  the  poor, 
or  those  in  moderate  circumstances,  we  find  dyspep- 


88  PHYSICAL   EDUCATION. 

sia  more  or  less  prevalent  ibroughom  the  land.  In 
other  countries,  this  is  not  the  case — -not,  I  mean, 
to  any  thing  near  the  same  extent.  True,  in  Great 
Britain,  Germany,  and  France,  the  complaint  assails 
the  higher  classes  of  society;  but  there  it  stops,— 
the  common  and  lower  classes  scarcely  knowing  it, 
except  by  name.  In  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  it 
is  still  less  common  among  all  ranks  of  the  people. 
The  apparent  cause  of  these  things  will  be  referred 
to  presently. 

Insanity  prevails  in  our  country  to  an  alarming  ex- 
tent, and,  in  common,  with  dyspepsia,  is  on  the  in- 
crease. The  entire  number  of  the  insane,,  in  the 
United  States,  is  computed  at  ffty  thousand —  a 
most  startling  aggregate,  and,  I  trust,  beyond  the 
real  one  ^ — ^^yet  the  real  ope,  were  it  ascertained,  would 
be  very  great ;  sufficient  to  excite  strict  inquiries  into 
the  cause,  accompanied  by  strenuous  efforts  for  its  re- 
movaL  According  to  a  late  and  very  intelligent  wri- 
ter, *  whose  information  and  accuracy  deserve  our 
confidence,  there  are  a  thousand  lunatics  in  the 
State  of  Connecticut.  This  is  in  the  ratio  of  one 
to  every  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  State.  In  England,  the  number  of  in- 
sane persons  does  not  exceed  twelve  or  thirteen  thou- 
sand. In  the  agricultural  districts,  there,  the  average 
ratio  is  about  one  in  eight  hundred  and  twenty  of  the 
whole  population,  being  to  that  of  Connecticut  less 
than  one  to  three.     Yet  in  England  the  disease  pre- 

*  Dr.  Brigham. 


1»HTSICAL    EDUCATION.  89 

vails  to  a  greater  extent,  than  in  any  other  nation  of 
Europe.  In  Scotland,  the  general  proportion,  includ- 
ing towns  and  cities,  as  well  as  country  places,  is 
one  in  five  hundred  and  seventy -four.  There  is  ev- 
ery where  more  madness  according  to  the  amount  of 
population,  in  cities,  than  in  (he  country.  In  Spain 
and  Russia,  the  large  cities  excepted,  there  is  very 
little  ;  in  Turkey,  Persia,  and  China,  still  less.  Of 
Hindostan  I  believe  the  same  is  true.  And  in  sav- 
age nations,  especially  where  no  ardent  spirits  are 
used,  the  complaint  is  scarcely  known.  Such  is  the 
report  of  air  travellers  among  the  Indians  of  North 
and  South  America.  To  this  may  be  subjoined  that 
the  insanity  of  a  people  is  increased,  by  the  occur- 
rence among  them  of  any  deep  and  extensive  men- 
tal commotion,  whether  from  theological  or  political 
causes.  Such,  as  history  informs  us,  was  the  effect 
of  the  Reformation  by  Luther,  of  the  Revolution  by 
Cromwell,  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  more 
especially  of  the  first  Revokition  ra  France.  During 
the  convulsions  of  the  latter  event,  the  frequency  of 
insanity  in  Paris  was  frightful.  ' 

From  these  facts  it  appears,  that  in  proportion  to 
the  freedom  of  action  of  the  humam  mind  in  any 
country,  more  especially  in  proportion  as  it  is  tossed 
and  perplexed  by  strong  passions  and  emotions,  is 
the  amount  of  madness,  by  which  that  country  is  vis- 
ited. This  result  we  should  expect,  from  calcula- 
tion on  well-known  principles  ;  and  observation  tes- 
tifies to  its  truth.  In  common  times,  there  is  more 
mental  agitation  in  Great  Britain,  than  in  France .; 
8^ 


90  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

more  in  France,  than  in  Spain  or  Russia ;  and  much 
more  in  either  of  them,  than  in  Turkey,  Persia,  or 
China.  And,  in  savag^e  tribes,  except  during  the  . 
hours  of  hunting  and  battle,  there  is  no  mental  agita- 
tion at  all  —  none  certainly  of  a  distracting  charac- 
ter. The  causes  of  these  several  facts  are  plain.  It 
-clearly  appears  that,  in  civilized  nations,  the  degree 
of  distracting  mental  emotion,  which  the  people  gen- 
erally experience,  is  in  proportion  to  the  an)ount  of 
the  freedom  they  enjoy.  And  that  again  depends 
on  the  more  or  less  popular  characters  of  iheir  gov- 
ernments. The  people  of  England  and  Scotland 
enjoy  more  freedom  than  the  people  of  France  ;  and 
the  latter  more  than  those  of  Spain  or  Russia.  In 
Turkey,  Persia,  and  China,  political  freedom  is  im- 
known.  The  despotism  of  government  compresses 
the  minds  of  the  subjects  into  a  dead  and  hopeless 
calm.  Unable  to  render  their  condition  any  better, 
the  degraded  population  cease,  in  appearance,  to  wish 
it  so,  or  even  to  disquiet  themselves  by  a  thought  on 
the  subject. 

Very  different  is  the  condition  of  things  in  the 
United  States.  Our  freedom,  both  political  and  re- 
ligious is  ample ;  and  we  push  and  enjoy  it  to  its  ut- 
most limits.  Our  institutions,  moreover,  of  every  de- 
scription, are  as  popular  as  comports  with  social  order 
and  sound  government.  State  and  church  prefer- 
ment and  office  are  open  to  every  one,  and  the  ardor, 
keenness  and  constancy  of  competition  and  struggle 
for  them,  have  no  example  in  the  practices  of  the 
present,  or  the  history  of  the  past.     The  fervor  and 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  91 

commotion  of  electioneering  intrigue  has  no  respite.  > 
Under  some  form,  the  country  is  agitated,  I  might  al-* 
most  say  convulsed  by  it,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  the  year  —  and  of  every  year.  Thus  are  the 
angry  and  burning  passions  kept  forever  awake  among 
the  people,  and  often  urged  to  the  most  intense  ac- 
tion. My  present  allusion  is  chiefly  to  the  intermin- 
able and  embittered  war  of  party  politics. 

Of  party  religion  nearly  the  same  is  true.  Secta- 
rian ..embroilment,  battle,  and  intrigue  are  constant, 
furious  and  vengeful.  Sometimes  the  strife  is  about 
a  doctrinal  tenet,  at  other  times  about  a  formal  rite 
or  ceremony,  and  again  for  the  achievement  of  power 
and  influence, — one  sect  struggling  for  the  mastery 
over  the  rest  —  at  least  to  outstrip  them  in  schemes 
ofambition.  Nor  must  I  forget  the  fervid  and  un- 
ceasing labors  of  the  pastor  and  preacher  for  the 
conversion  and  edification  of  his  flock,  and  the  wild 
and  convulsive  emotion   he  often  produces  in  their 

-  minds.  In  no  other  nation  are  these  several  forms 
of  excitement  half  so  high  and  agitating  as  in  the 
United  States.  A  similar  condition  of  things  exists 
in  the  congregation  of  the  celebrated  Irvine,  of  L#on- 

.  don,  many  of  whose  hearers  are  occasionally  de- 
ranged. 

Another  sourceof  deep  disquietude  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  our  country,  is  the  desire  and  pursuit  of 
wealth.  A  more  ardently  money-loving  and  keenly 
money-seeking  people  than  the  Americans  does  not 
exist.  I  doubt  much,  whether,  In  these  respects, 
any  equals  them.     The  reason  of  this  is  plain.     The 


92  PHtSldAL   tDttCATlOU. 

nature  of  our  government  and  of  all  our  institutions 
encourages  and   urges  every  one  to  aim  at  standing 
and  power  ;  and  the  possession  of  wealth  aids  greatly 
in  the  attainment  of  them.     Indeed,  hereditary  titles 
and  standing  being   unknown  to  us,  the  only  actual 
elements  of  rank  and  power  in  the   United  States 
are  wealth  and  place.     Without  these,  talents  how- 
ever splendid,  and  knowledge   however  varied  and 
extensive,  give  to  their  possessor  but  little  influence. 
Nor  is  this  all.     Owing  to  our  youthful  and  unsettled 
character,  as  a  people,  the  modes  of  acquiring  wealth 
are  not  so  well  established  in  the  United  States,  as 
in  the  countries  of  Europe.     Bgsiness  does  not  run 
in  so  regular  a  channel.     There  is  more  of  random 
traffic  and   speculation  in  it.     And  these  forms  of 
transacting   it,   being  often  suddenly  productive   of 
great  profit,  and  at  other  times  of  ruinous  losses,  and 
keeping  the  mind  constantly  on  the  stretch  of  the 
calculation  of  chances,  are  much  more  exciting  and 
harassing,  than  they  would  be,  were  they  more  uni- 
form and  certain.    Men  engaged  in  regular  and  well- 
settled  business  pursue  it  mechanically,   are    calm 
during  the  day,  and  sleep   soundly  at  night.     But 
dealers  and  speculators,^  besides  being  constantly  dis- 
quieted while  awake,  are    tossed    between  sudden 
wealth  and  ruin  in  their  dreams.     They  are  equally 
distracted   by  the  uncertainty  and  the  unexpected 
occurrence  of  events. 

Such  are  the  three  leading  sources  of  mental 
commotion  in  our  country  —  party  politics,  party  re- 
ligion, and  the  love  of  wealth.    Nor  is  it  to  be  doubt- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  93 

cd,  that  they  produce  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  a 
greater  amount  of  harassing  and  giddy  excitement, 
than  exists,  perhaps,  in  all  other  nations  united.  But 
mental  excitement  is  only  another  name  for  cere- 
bral excitement.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten,  that  the 
e^rly  mismanagement  and  debilitating  practice  of 
overworking  the  brains  of  children,  in  infant  and 
other  early  schools,  disqualify  them  to  maintain  their 
soundness,  in  after  life,  under  a  degree*  of  irrita- 
tion, which  they  might  have  otherwise  sustained, 
without  much  injury.  If  the  lungs  be  injured  and 
weakened,  in  infancy  or  childhood,  no  one  doubts 
that  the  individual  thus  affected,  will  be  more  than 
usually  liable  to  pulmonary  complaints.  Why? 
Because  the  lungs  are  not  only  more  susceptible  of 
malign  impressions,  but  less  able  to  resist  them,  and 
escape  the  mischief  they  are  calculated  to  produce. 
Of  the  brain,  the  same  is  true.  If  it  be  weakened 
in  childhood,  it  will  be  afterwards  inordinately  liable 
to  morbid  affections,  and  too  feeble  to  contend  with 
them. 

That  these  causes  contribute  to  the  production  of 
the  inordinate  sum  of  insanity,  which  prevails  in  the 
United  States,  is  too  plain  to  be  held  in  doubt.  For 
madness  is  the  result  of  cerebral  excitement,  rendered 
deleterious  by  the  excess  in  quantity,  or  the  malign 
qualities  of  the  irritants  that  produce  it.  Nor  can 
any  cerebral  irritant  be  more  noxious,  either  in  kind 
or  degree,  than  the  cankered  and  fierce  religious  and 
political  passions,  which  are  constantly  goading  the 
American   brain,      Under    such   circumstances,   it 


94  PHYSICAL  Education. 

would  be  wonderful,  if  attacks  of  insanity  wjere  not 
unusually  frequent  among  us. 

But  can  the  same  causes  prove  also  instrumental, 
in  the  produClion  bf  dyspepsia? — No  doubt  of  it. 
That  complaint  commences^,  perhaps,  as  often  in  the 
brain,  as  in  the  stomach.  Possibly  oftener.  Th,at 
this  is  true  of  tlie  disease  in  Europe,  will  scarcely  be 
denied,  after  a  fair  examination  of  the  facts  connected 
with  it.  It  is  there,  almosL  exclusively,  a  complaint 
of  the  studious  and  the  scheming,  who,  Overtasking 
their  brains,  injure  them  by  toil.  Among  the  hus- 
bandmen of  England,  who  steadily  pursue  their  tran- 
quil mode  of  life,  regardless  of  the  fluctuations  of  stock, 
the  bickerings  of  party,  the  fate  of  political  measures, 
and  the  changes  of  place,' dyspepsia  is  almost  a  stran- 
ger. Yet  many  of  those  men  are  great  eaters,  and 
far  from  being  very  choice  as  to  the  quality  of  their 
food.  In  the  cities,  the  same  is  in  a  great  measure 
true  of  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  mechanics, 
wbo  are  engaged  in  a  regular  and  well-established 
business,  which  is  fully  understood  by  them,  where 
the  risk  is  slight,  and  the  profits  sure,  and  no  disqui- 
eting anxtety  attends  it.  Such  individuals  have  a 
good  digestion,  and  bear  the  marks  of  it.  But,  with 
literary  men,  officers  of  state,  dealers  in  scrip,  dar- 
ing adventurers,  and  anxious  and  ambitious  project- 
ors of  improvements — with  these,  and  every  other 
brain-worn  class  of  persons,  the  case  is  different. 
Dyspepsia  is  their  torment ;  and  they  exhibit  deep 
traces  of  it,  in  their  lean  frames,  and  haggard  coun- 
tenances.    Yet  are  they  much  more  select  in  their 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION,  95 

diet,  both  as  respects  quantity,  quality,  and  cooking, 
than  the  classes  to  whom  dyspepsia  is  unknown. 
This  fact  is  notorious,  and  has  been  so  for  centuries. 
Nor  can  it  be  attributed,  I  think,  to  any  other 
cause,  but  excessive  and  deleterious  cerebral  irrita- 
tion, in  the  one  case,  and  an  exemption  from  it,  in 
the  other.  And  this  cause  seems  sufficient  to  solve 
the  problem. 

That  it  is  not  exclusively  the  labor  and  irritation 
of  the  stomach  that  produces  dyspepsia,  appears  from 
innumerable  other  facts,  a  few  of  which,  I  shall  re- 
cite. Children  not  too  much  confined  in  school,  or 
otherwise  mistreated,  though  great  and  often  pro- 
miscuous eaters,  are  rarely  dyspeptic.  The  reason 
is  plain.  Their  brains  are  neither  toil-worn  nor 
care-worn  ;  and  they  enjoy  the  requisite  amount  of 
sleep.  Their  brains  are  not  irritated  and  exhausted 
by  burdensome  tasks.  The  North  American  Indians 
eat,  at  times,  enormously,  and  that  after  a  long  fast, 
which,''on  well-known  principles,  increases  the  dan- 
ger of  overloading  the  stomach.  It  is  said  that,  on 
these  occasions,  the  meal  of  a^  single  Indian,  is  equal 
to  that  of  from  four  to  six  white  men.  The  food, 
moreover,  is  badly  cooked,  and  therefore  indigestible. 
Yet  the  savage  escapes  dyspepsia. 

Of  the  Esquimaux  Indians,  the  same  is  true,  to  a 
still  greater  extent.  An  individual  of  that  tribe,  as 
we  are  confidently  assured  by  Captain  Parry  and 
Captain  Lyon,  eats  with  impunity  from  ten  to  twelve 
pounds  of  solid  animal  food,  in  the  course  of  a  day, 
and  swallows  along  with  it,  in  the  form  of  drink,  a 
gallon  of  oil.     Captain  Lyon  further  relates,  that  a 


96  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

young  female  Esquimaux  ate  a  large  amount  of  can- 
dles and   their  wicks,  without  sustaining  either  sick- 
ness or  dyspepsia.     These  statements  we  are  com- ' 
pelled  to  believe,  on   account  of  the   high  respect- 
ability of  the  authors  of  them. 

Of  the  gluttony  of  the  Siberians,  stories  are  told, 
not  perhaps  ahogether  so  worthy  of  credit.  Were 
not  that  people,  however,  enormous  eaters,  such 
stories  would  not  be  invented.  The  accounts  are 
but  exaggerations  of  extraordinary  gormandizing. 
It  is  asserted  by  travellers,  that  a  Siberian  often  eats, 
in  a  day,  forty  pounds  of  solid  food  ;  and  Admiral 
SaritchafF  reports,  that  he  saw"  one  of  that  people, 
eat,  immediately  after  breakfast,  twenty- five  pounds 
of  boiled  rice,  and  three  pounds  of  butter.  Yet,  as 
already  stated,  neither  Siberians  nor  Esquimaux, 
are  annoyed  by  dyspepsia.  And  they,  no  doubt,  owe 
their  safety,  in  part,  to  their  freedom  from  wasting 
cerebral  irritation. 

For  the  same  reason  the  inferior  animals  have  no 
dyspepsia,  though  they  often  gorge  themselves  to 
great  excess.  When  they  thus  violate  moderation, 
nature  teaches  them  what  to  do  for  safety.  They 
instinctively  lie  down  and  sleep,  giving  entire  free- 
dom and  rest  to  their  brains.  A  common  black 
snake  swallows  a  rabbit  or  a  squirrel  nearly  as 
weighty  as  itself,  and  goes  into  a  partial  torpor,  until 
its  meal  is  digested.  A  boa-constrictor  swallows  a 
goat  or  an  antelope,  sleeps  nearly  aweek,  and  wakes 
without  dyspepsia  or  uneasiness,  prepared  for  another 
similar  exploit.     Two  dogs  of  the  same  age,  size, 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  97 

and  strength,  having  eaten  the  same  amount  of  the 
same  food,  one  of  them  goes  to  sleep,  and  the  other 
enters  on  the  chase.  In  from  three  to  four  hours, 
the  meal  of  the  sleeper  is  digested,  while  that  of  the 
runner  is  unchanged  in  his  stomach — and  the  latter 
dog  is  probably  disordered,  while  the  former  retains 
his  health.  These  facts  show,  that  tranquillity  of  the 
brain  is  favorable  at  least,  if  not  essential  to  the  pro- 
cess of  easy  and  sound  digestion. 

The  powerful  influence  of  a  disordered  brain,  over 
the  digestive  system,  is  manifested  in  the  effects  of  a 
severe  blow  on  the  head.  These  are  vomiting,  gas- 
tric inflammation,  hepatic  derangement,  amounting 
at  times,  to  abscess,  and  again,  to  torpor  of  the  liver, 
with  other  forms  of  abdominal  disease.  Sea-sick- 
ness, moreover,  is  a  cerebral  affection,  thrown  on 
the  stomach.  So  is  the  sickness  produced  in  many 
persons,  by  whirling  the  body,  and  riding  in  a  car- 
riage, with  the  back  toward  the  horses.  The  em- 
peror Napoleon  died  of  a  gastric  affection,  in  St. 
Helena,  where  such  complaints  are  scarcely  known. 
He  was,  moreover,  a  very  temperate  eater.  But  he 
had  deep  sensibility  and  powerful  passions.  The 
most  probable  cause  of  his  disease,  therefore,  was 
mortification  at  the  loss  of  empire,  resentment  and 
chagrin  at  his  exile  and  confinement,  vexation  at  the 
treatment  he  received  from  the  governor  of  the  island, 
and  inconsolable  grief  at  being  separated  from  his 
family.  These  causes,  goading  his  brain  almost  to 
madness,  threw  their  influence  sympathetically  on 
his  stomach,  and  destroyed  him.  --  . 

9 


98  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

Nor  is  the  whole  yet  told.  Grief  is  nothing  bul 
a  painful  and  deleterious  cerebral  irritation.  Females 
experience  that  passion  in  its  greatest  intensity  ;  and 
it  is,  to  them,  a  very  productive  cause  of  dyspepsia, 
So  is  jealousy,  a  passion  which  they  also  feel,  with 
peculiar  acuteness  and  distress.  And  every  painful 
passion  and  emotion,  is  but  another  name  for  exces- 
sive and  hurtful  irritation  of  the  brain,  which,  if  long 
continued,  never  fails  to  injure  digestion.  Even 
anger  arrests  the  process  of  digestion.  Nor  are  fe- 
males the  only  sufferers  from  such  irritation.  Males, 
also,  are  its  victims. 

A  man  in  perfect  health,  and  with  a  fine  appetite, 
seats  himself  at  table;  but,  before  he  has  began  his 
meal,  a  messenger  communicates  to  him,  some  dis- 
tressing news.  His  appetite  vanishes  ;  and  the  very 
sight  and  odor  of  the  food  becomes  offensive  to  him* 
Or,  has  he  just  finished  his  repast,  when  the  message 
is  delivered  ?  If  he  be  not  actually  sickened  by  it, 
and  forced  to  discharge  the  contents  of  his  stomach, 
indigestion,  sick  headache,  and  perhaps  feverishness, 
are  the  result.  And  what  student  does  not  know, 
that  effects,  somewhat  similar,  are  produced  by 
severe  intellectual  toil,  immediately  after  a  plentiful 
meal  ?  That  dyspepsia,  moreover,  is  proverbially 
one  of  the  morhi  studiosorum,  one  of  the  complaints 
of  the  studious,  is  a  truth  familiar  to  every  one. 
Nor  is  it  less  notorious,  that  men  who  think  but 
little,  and  are  exempt  from  care,  seldom  suffer  from 
it.  The  cheerful  and  jolly  do  not  often  become 
dyspeptic — the  grave  and  care-worn,  very  frequently. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 


99 


This  truth  has  been  long,  and  familiarly  known. 
Caesar  manifested  his  acquaintance  with  it,  when  he 
spoke  of  the  countenances  of  the  gay  and  cheerful 
Antony,  and  the  deeply  thoughtful  Brutus  and  Cas- 
sius;  the  former  fresh,  full,  and  ruddy,  the  latter 
pale,  sallow,  and  care-worn. 

But  my  argument  is  not  yet  closed.  The  most 
successful  mode  of  treating  dyspepsia,  favors  the 
belief,  that  it  often  arises  from  cerebral  irritation,  and 
is  always  perhaps  connected  with  it.  Am  I  asked, 
in  what  this  treatment  consists  ?  I  reply,  in  regulat- 
ing the  passions,  taking  muscular  exercise,  in  the 
open  air,  abandoning  intellectual  toil,  and  retreating, 
for  a  time,  from  business  and  care.  Unless  the 
complaint  be  so  inveterate  and  deep-rooted  as  to 
have  produced  some  serious  organic  lesion,  this 
course  of  treatment,  steadily  pursued,  will  cure  it, 
without  either  the  use  of  much  medicine,  or  confine- 
ment to  a  very  strict  diet ;  and  it  can  often  be  cured 
in  no  other  way.  To  him,  whose  brain  is  constantly 
on  the  rack,  dyspeptic  medicine  and  diet  are  of  little 
use. 

How  often  do  we  find  the  efficacy  of  this  mode 
of  treatment,  verified.  An  individual  deeply  devoted 
to  books  and  study,  becomes  dyspeptic.  Without 
mitigating  his  intellectual  labors,  he  tries  various 
remedies  for  the  restoration  of  his  health.  For 
months,  and  perhaps  years,  he  eats  by  weight,  of 
prescribed  articles,  and  dresses  and  exercises  by 
measurement  and  rule.  During  this  trial  of  his  pa- 
tience, tea  and  coffee  are  rejected  ;  new  milk,  boiled 


100  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

rice,  and  bread,  stale,  or  made  of  unbolted  flour, 
with  fresh  eggs,  and  well-prepared  mutton  chops, 
being  his  only  food,  and  water  his  only  drink ;  and 
he  walks  every  day,  at  stated  hours,  a  given  number 
of  miles.  Finding  this  treatment  ineffectual,  he  re- 
sorts to  daily  horse-exercise,  under  an  assurance 
from  some  very  *  skilful  doctor,'  or  perhaps  a 
'  knowing  nurse,'  that  that  will  cure  him.  But,  in- 
stead of  being  removed,  or  even  lightened,  his  com- 
plaint grows  worse.  During  these  experiments,  he 
has  continued  to  return  regularly  from  his  meals, 
and  his  horse  and  foot  exercise,  to  his  books  and  his 
pen,  thus  irritating  and  exhausting  his  brain,  by  un- 
interrupted labor.  At  length,  impatient  of  trials, 
that  have  proved  so  unavailing,  he  renounces  medi- 
Cmc  arid  regimen,  resolves  to  become  master  of  hinij- 
self  and  his  movements,  and  takes  his  case  into  his 
own  hands.  Under  this  determination,  he  shuts  up 
his  study,  mounts  his  horse,  and  sets  out  on  a  jour- 
ney, to  visit  a  friend,  a  couple  of  hundred  miles  dis- 
tant, riding  during  wet  weather,  as  well  as  dry,  and 
living  on  the  common  fare  of  travellers.  Before  he 
has  proceeded  a  hundred  miles,  his  health  is  much 
improved  ;  and,  on  reaching  the  dwelhng  of  his 
friend,  he  finds  himself  well. 

This  is  no  fancy-case,  but  one  that  has  innumer^ 
able  examples  in  life.  To  what  is  the  cure  to  be 
attributed  ?  The  dyspeptic  has  previously  conformed 
most  strictly  to  dietectic  rules,  and  travelled,  on  foot 
and  on  horseback,  some  thousands  of  miles,  in  fine 
weather,  and  through  a  pure  atmosphere,  without 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  101 

any  benefit  to  health  ;  yet  he  is  now  cured,  by  riding 
two  hundred  miles,  a  part  of  the  way  in  bad 
weather,  and  living,  in  the  mean  time,  on  indifferent 
food.  The  cause  of  the  salutary  effect  of  his  jour- 
ney, is  easily  rendered.  Having  relinquished  hia 
intellectual  toils,  his  brain  is  at  ease,  arid  no  longer 
injures  his  digestive  organs,  or  any  other  part  of  his 
system.  On  the  contrary,  by  acting  salutarily  on 
them,  it  benefits  them,  and  enables  them  to  perform 
their  respective  functions.  Let  him  immediately 
return  to  his  studies,  with  his  usual  intensity,  and  his 
complaint  will  revisit  him. — Instead  of  a  man  of  let- 
ters, suppose  the  dyspeptic  to  be  a  statesman,  an 
artist,  or  a  man  of  business ;  the  result  of  the  speci- 
fied measures  will  be  the  same.  Cerebral  quietude 
will  contribute  much  to  the  restoration  of  his  health. 
Again.     It  is  well  known,  that  individuals,  who, 

.  under  all  sorts  of  treatment,  have  been  tormented  by 
dyspepsia,  from  the  age  of  twenty-five  or  thirty,  to 
forty  or  forty-five,  very  often  recover  their  health, 
and  from  having  been  thin,  become  fleshy,  about 
the  latter  period,  after  having  abandoned  medicine 
entirely,  and  relaxed  not  a  little,  in  the  strictness  of 
their  regimen.  To  use  their  own.  language,  they 
seem  to  have  '  gotten  well,  without  any" cause.'  A 
satisfactory  cause,  however,  is  not  wanting.  They 
are  less  harassed  and  corroded  by  care,  passion,  and 
mental  labor— in  simpler  and  more  philosophical 
language — they  experience  less  cerebral  irritation, 

'  for  one  of  the  two  following  reasons,  or  both  united. 

They  have  attained  the  object,  for  which  they  had 
9# 


102  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

previously  toiled,  arvd  disquieted  themselves;  or,  age 
and  experience  have  somewhat  blunted  iheir  sensi- 
bilities, and  calmed  their  passions  ;  or  both  causes, 
have  cooperated  to  the  same  end.  For  similar  rea- 
sons, dyspepsia  rarely  commences  in  an  individual, 
after  his  forty-fifih  or  fiftieth  year.  Time  has  dimin- 
ished the  susceptibility  of  his  brain. 

Such  appear  to  be  the  leading  causes  of  the 
alarming  frequency  and  increase  of  madness  and 
dyspepsia,  in  the  United  States.  The  same  irrita- 
tion which,  in  some  cases,  produces  the  former  com- 
plaint, in  others  gives  rise  to  the  latter,  by  not  only 
disqualifying  the  brain  for  acting  beneficially  on  the 
stomach  and  the  other  digestive  organs,  but  by  ren- 
dering its  influence  injurious  to  them.  Nor  can  it 
be  doubted,  as  already  intimated,  that  Infant  Schools, 
under  their  present  administration,  are  calculated  to 
increase  the  evil,  by  giving  a  morbid  growth  and 
susceptibility  to  the  brain.  So,  as  heretofore  men- 
tioned, are  intemperate  eating,  and  other  improprie- 
ties in  diet  and  drink.  The  only  effectual  remedy,, 
is  a  well-directed  physical  education. 

Were  I  asked,  how  severe  cerebral  irritation  and 
labor  injure  the  stomach  and  other  digestive  organs, 
my  reply  would  be,  In  a  two-fold  way  ;  sympathet- 
ically and  functionally.  In  the  latter  mode,  the 
brain,  being  unfitted  for  its  healihy  action,  and  in 
some  degree  exliausted  itself,  withholds  from  the 
whole  digestive  system  that  measure  of  influence 
and  aid,  known  to  be  essential  to  the  performance 
of  its  functions.     In  what  this  influence  consists,  is 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  103 

not  exactly  known.  It  is  probably,  however  the 
product  of  a  subtle  and  peculiar  form  of  matter, 
which  the  brain  prepares  from  the  blood,  and  trans- 
mits, by  the  nerves,  to  the  other  parts  of  the  body. 
That  a  communication  between  the  stomach  and 
the  brain  is  necessary  to  digestion,  experiment 
proves.  When  that  formed  by  the  nerves  is  inter- 
rupted, the  digestive  action  is  suspended;  when  re- 
stored, the  process  again  goes  on.  Since,  therefore, 
the  entire  want  of  the  cerebral  influence  injures  the 
stomach,  any  irregularities  or  bad  qualities  in  it  can 
scarcely  fail  to  do  the  same. 

Did  time  permit,  it  would  be  gratifying  to  me  to 
revert  to  the  consideration  of  the  moral  influence  of 
the  brain,  and  to  speak  of  it  more  fully,  and  in  a 
manner  more  worthy  of  its  importance  than  I  have 
heretofore  done.  That  a  sound,  well-developed, 
and  well-regulated  condition  of  that  organ  is  as  truly 
the  source  of  correct  morals,  as  a  healthy  condition 
of  the  heart  and  the  lungs  is  of  the  due  circulation 
and  arteriolization  of  the  blood,  is  a  truth  admitted 
now  by  all  who  have  thoroughly  studied  the  subject, 
and  which  is  destined,  at  no  very  distant  period,  to 
be  without  an  opponent.  On  this  ground  alone  can 
moral  education  and  reform  be  rationally  and  suc- 
cessfully conducted,  and  brought  to  the  perfection 
of  which  they  are  susceptible.  The  moral  organs 
of  the  brain,  and  the  reflecting  ones,  as  their  adju- 
tants, must  be  strengthened  by  regular  and  well-di- 
rected exercise,  and  thus  rendered  more  ready  in 
action,  as  well  as  more  vigorous.     Immorality  and 


104  PHYSICAL.    EDUCATION. 

crime  are  the  product  of  the  animal  organs ;  and  the 
reason  of  tlreir  being  committed  is  obvious.  These 
org«nns  preponderate,  if  not  habitually,  at  least  for  the 
time,  over  the  moral  and  reflecting  organs.  Instead 
of  being  subordinate,  as  they  ought  to  be,  they  take 
the  mastery,  andj  by  running  into  excess,  bring  guilt 
on  the  individual  ;  precisely  as  the  crew  of  a  vessel 
sometimes  mutiny,  break  from  the  control  of  their  of- 
ficers, and  perhaps  murder  them  and  plunder  the 
ship.  The  source  of  every  crime  is  the  same,  the 
preponderance  of  the  animal  portion  of  the  brain ; 
and  the  radical  extinguishment  must  be  also  the 
same,  the  reduction  of  the  strength  of  that  portion, 
and  its  being  brought  to  a  state  of  subordination  to 
the  higher  organs.  Every  habitual  offender  has  a 
brain  in  some  way  unsound.  There  is  a  want  of 
balance  and  harmony  between  his  cerebral  organs, 
which  amounts  to  derangement,  and  calls  for  skilful 
treatment  to  remove  it.  And,  without  such  treat- 
nient,  his  moral  malady  will  as  necessarily  continue, 
as  must  a  dislocated  joint  remain  in  a  deranged  con- 
dition, if  it  be  not  reduced.  To  carry  out  the  figure, 
except  in  far-gone  cases,  the  moral  disease  can  be 
remedied  by  judicious  treatment,  as  certainly  as 
the  articular.  The  remedy,  moreover,  is  simple.  It 
consists  in  bringing  the  offending  animal  organs  to  a 
state  of  comparative  inaction,  which  will  diminish 
their  strength,  and  giving  constant  exercise  to  the 
moral  and  reflecting  organs,  by  which  their  power 
and  promptitude  in  acting  will  be  increased.  Thus 
will   the  truly  human  portion  of  the  brain  attain  an 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  105 

ascendency  over  the  animal,  and  man  will  advance 
toward  the  perfection  of  his  nature. 

Is  any  one  inclined  to  request  me  to  be  more  ex- 
plicit in  pointing  out  the  means  of  moral  education 
and  reform,  and  in  specifying  the  mode  in  which  the 
process  is  to  be  conducted  ?  If  so,  I  could  not  an- 
swer him  better  than  by  directing  his  attention  to 
several  of  the  penhentiary  establishments,  and  all 
the  Houses  of  Correction  for  juvenile  offenders  in 
the  United  States.  There,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
means'  are  already  in  operation,  and  in  some  of  the 
institutions,  the  prospects  are  very  flattering.  In 
many  cases,  vicious  and  criminal  propensities  have 
been  extinguished,  and  habits  of  morality  and  virtue 
established.  In  other  words,  the  inordinate  action 
of  the  animal  organs  has  been  aliayed,  and  that  of 
the  mora!  and  reflecting  invigorated. 

The  means  of  effecting  this  are  few  and  simple. 
By  being  whhdrawn  from  the  community,  and,  in 
many  cases,  by  solitary  confinement,  the. culprits  are 
strictly  guarded  not  only  from  the  commission  of 
crime,  but  from  all  temptation  to  it.  Thus  are  their 
animal  organs,  which  are  prone  to  offend,  reduced  to 
a  state  of  comparative  inaction,  which,  in  time,  de- 
prives them  of  much  of  their  strength,  and  weakens, 
in  a  corresponding  degree,  the  appetite  for  vice.  For 
the  propensity  to  transgress  is  but  the  craving  of  a 
powerful  and  highly  excited  organ.  But  this  alone 
could  not  be  denominated  moral  reform.  At  most, 
it  would  be  but  negatively  so.  To  weaken  one  class 
of  organs  is  not  exactly  tantamount  to  the  strength- 


106  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

ening  of  another,  even  though  they  be  antagonists. 
Other  measures  therefore  are  added.  The  offenders 
are  strictly  practised  in  some  form  of  useful  industry, 
which  not  only  occupies  the  inind,  and  withdraws  it 
from  thoughts  of  vice,  but  is  itself  a  moral  duty. 
Nor  is  this  all.  Moral  and  religious  instruction  is 
directly  inculcated  on  them  by  reading,  preaching, 
conversation,  remonstrance,  advice,  example,  and 
practice/  This,  by  exciting  and  exercising  their 
moral  and  reflecting  organs,  confers  on  them  positive 
strength,  and  except  in  the  worst  class  of  cases,  gives 
them  uhimately  an  ascendency  over  the  animal. 
Then  is  the  permanent  bias  of  the  mind  turned  to- 
ward virtue,  and  the  reformation  ol  the  offenders  is 
complete. 

When  estauiisbed  on  correct  principles, and  skilful- 
ly administered.  Penitentiaries  and  Houses  of  Cor- 
rection are  moral  hospitals,  where  criminal  propensi- 
ties are  treated  as  diseases,  consisting  in  unsound 
conditions  of  the  brain.  And  in  such  conditions 
they  do  consist,  as  certainly  as  hepatitis  does  in  a 
morbid  slate  of  the  liver,  or  dyspepsia,  in  a  similar 
state  with  the  stomach.  And,  by  judicious  treat- 
ment, they  can  be  as  certainly  removed.  Nor  is  it 
possible,  on  any  other  principles,  to  purify  and 
strengthen  our  moral  nature,  and  raise  it  to  the 
height  and  confer  on  it  the  dignity,  of  which  it  is 
susceptible.  Yet  all  this  amounts  to' nothing  more 
than  the  application  of  physical  education  to  the 
moral  organs  of  the  brain.  In  treating  of  it,  therefore, 
I  have  not  in  any  degree  departed  from  my  subject. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  107 

I  have  only  brought  to  bear  on  it  matter  of  illustra- 
tion not  usually  employed,  but  not,  on  that  account 
the  le.ss'  appropriate  and  useful.  I  shall  only  add, 
that  the  time  and  treatment  necessary  for  the  removal 
of  a  malady  must  be  apportioned  and  accommodated 
to  its  strength,  fixity  and  aggravating  circum^ances. 
And  as  there  are  cases  of  incurable  derangement  in 
other  parts  of  the  body,  so  are  there  in  the  brain,  of 
that  which  creates  a  propensity  to  crime.  In  such 
instances,  the  interests  of  society  can  be  duly  pro- 
tected, only  by  the  confinement  of  the  culprits  for 
life,  or  their  capital  punishment. 

In  the  training  of  the  brain,  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  sleep  is  of  considerable  mornent.  Children 
require  more  sleep  than  adults,  and  some  children 
more  than  others.  Young  infants  should  be  allowed 
to  sleep  a  greater  portion  of  their  time.  As  they 
advance  in  years,  a  less  proportion  will  be  not  only 
sufficient,  but  more  salutary  to  them.  For  children 
and  youth  pursuing  their  education,  from  seven  to 
nine  hours  of  sleep,  out  of  twenty-four  is  enough. 
Many  do  not  require  more  than  six.  Less  than  that 
might  prove  injurious,  especially  if  the  abstinence 
were  long  continued.  Too  little  sleep  weakens  the 
brain,  and  consequently  the  entire  system,  by  exhaus- 
tion; too  much,  by  inaction.  For  sleep  consists  in 
the  quietude  of  the  brain.  Of  this,  as  of  other  things, 
a  mean  quantity  is  best.  An  excess  of  sleep  has 
produced  idiotism  ;  a  deprivation  of  it,  madness — • 
and  sometimes  inflammation  of  the  brain. 

It  is  not  unimportant  to  observe,  that  a  life  of  strict 


108  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

temperance  curtails  materially  the  time  necessary  to 
be  spent  in  sleep.  For  this  there  are  sundry  rea- 
sons, two  of  them  leading  ones.  The  intemperate 
require  a  greater  amount  of  actual  sleep,  on  account 
of  the  deeper  exhaustion  of  their  systems.  But  their 
sleep,  never  healthy,  is  broken,  dreamy,  and  compar- 
atively unrefreshing.  It  is  the  sleep  of  bad  digestion, 
their  stomachs  being  oppressed,  by  a  superabundance 
of  food.  Hence  they  are  compelled  to  consume  a 
greater  length  of  time,  in  acquiring  the  necessary 
degree  of  repose.  The  temperate  and  regular,  on 
the  contrary,  are  comparatively  strangers  to  dreams. 
They  rest  profoundly,  and  enjoy  a  fuller  measure  of 
sound  and  refreshing  sleep,  in  six  hours,  than  the  in- 
temperate do  in  nine.  In  this  way,  they  save,  in 
the  course  of  a  life-time,  several  years  of  active  and 
useful  existence,  which,  to  those  of  contrary  habits, 
are  lost  in  sleep  and  drowsiness. 

As  neither  their  bones  nor  muscles  are  yet  con- 
firmed in  strength,  the  manner  in  which  children  hold 
themselves  in  school,  is  not  unimportant.  They 
should  sit  as  erect  as  their  employments  will  admit, 
lest  they  contract  ungraceful  and  pernicious  habits  of 
stooping  or  distortion  ;  and  they  ought  not  to  be  per- 
mitted, much  less  compelled,  to  sit  long  in  one  posi- 
tion, but  be  directed  to  change  it,  by  standing,  or  in 
some  other  way.  This  will  prevent  numbness  of 
their  limbs,  and  other  unpleasant  effects  from  stillness 
and  compression.  Want  of  motion,  produces  in 
many,  a  coldness  of  the  feet,  which  weakens  their  at- 
tention to  study,  and  brings  on  headache  and  dys- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  10& 

pepsia.  In  a  special  manner,  children  should  not  be 
allowed  to  lean  heavily,  on  the  breast  or  stomach, 
against  desks  or  tables.  Gastric  derangement  and 
pulmonary  consumption  have  been  the  issue  of  such 
practices.  Pupils  have  often  suffered,  in  their  eyes, 
from  a  strong  glare  of  light,  through  a  window  in 
front  of  them.  Such  accidents  should  be  carefully 
guarded  aga  nst« 

The  practice  of  self  pollution,  among  youth  at 
school,  especially  in  boarding  schools,  is  mucli  more 
frequent  than  is  generally  unagined.  A  id  no  vice 
is  more  detestable  or  ruinous.  Health,  intellect, 
morals  —  all  purity,  dignity,  and  self-respect  sinks 
beneath  it,  in  promiscuous  and  hopeless  ruin.  When 
carried  to  excess,  it  produces  idiotism,  in  the  most 
deplorable  and  disgusting  form,  accompanied  by  im- 
paired vision  and  hearing,  paralysis,  and  other  dis- 
tressing infirmities,  and  terminates  in  d'eath.  No 
vigilance  to  prevent  it  therefore  can  be  too  strict ; 
and,  when  it  is  detected,  no  remonstrance  against  it 
can  be  too  solemn,  no  representation  of  its  direful 
effects  too  strong,  no  denunciation  of  it  too  stern,  and, 
if  persevered  in,  no  penalty  for  it  too  heavy.  But 
it  inflicts  its  own  penalty,  in  the  entire  desolation  of 
the  being,  who  perpetrates  it.  Not  confined,  in  its 
effects,  to  the  offenders,  it  fills  as  a  lasting  blight  on 
their  posterity.  In  boarding-schools,  moreover,  the 
practice  is  contagious,  spreading  from  one  to  another, 
until  many,  if  not  the  whole,  are  polluted.  The  first 
culprit  detected,  therefore,  should  be  removed  from 
the  institution,  as  a  moral  lazar,  dangerous  alike  to 
10 


110  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

purity  and  soundness  of  mind  and  body.  But  he 
ought  not  to  be  hopelessly  abandoned  to  his  fate. 
Every  practicable  expedient  to  reform  him  should 
be  adopted  and  persevered  in.  And  the  best  plan 
of  reform  consists  in  some  active  and  interesting  em- 
ployment, engaged  in  with  alacrity  and  industriously 
pursued  —  so  industriously  as  to  banish  idleness,  and 
allow  but  little  time  even  for  amusement ;  for  lei- 
sure and  idleness  are  often  the  source  and  always  one 
of  the  nurses  of  the  evil  to  be  corrected.  And  if 
all  other  means  fail,  marriage  should  be  resorted  to, 
as  soon  as  the  individual  has  arrived  at  maturity,  and 
is  in  a  condition  to  form  that  alliance.  This  vice 
occurs  in  families,  as  well  as  in  schools.  Every  where, 
therefore,  in  the  physical  education  of  youth,  its  pre- 
vention is  a  point  of  infinite  moment.  I  shall  only 
add,  that,  in  proportion  as  the  temperament  is  active, 
the  development  of  Amativeness  full,  the  moral  and 
reflecting  developements  deficient,  and  the  individual 
diffident  and  easily  abashed,  is  the  danger  of  his 
contracting  the  vice.  In  the  same  proportion,  there- 
fore, should  be  the  exertions  made  to  protect  him 
from   it. 

Of  dress,  as  a  means  in  physical  education,  I  have 
already  spoken.  A  few  further  remarks  on  it,  and 
I  shall  close  my  discourse.  No  article  of  dress 
should  so  compress  any  portion  of  the  body,  as  to 
injure  the  skin,  diminish  the  size  and  vigor  of  a 
muscle,  restrict  the  flexibility  of  a  joint,  oppose  a 
hindrance  to  the  innervation  of  the  part,  or  prevent 
the  free    circulation  of  the  blood.     U  any  thing  be 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  Ill 

benefited  by  unlimited  freedom  of  action,  it  is  the 
system  of  man,  in  its  organized  capacity  —  I  mean 
the  whole  system. 

Pinching  shoes  and  boots  do  much  mischief. 
That  they  produce  tormenting  and  crippling  corns, 
every  body  knows  in  theory,  and  too  many  by  woful 
experience.  But  this  is  not  all,  nor  even  the  worst. 
They  check  the  circulation  of  the  pedal  blood,  make 
th^  feet  cold,  and  sometimes  aid  in  chilblaining  them, 
diminish  the  size  of  the  muscles  of  the  part,  and  take 
from  them  their  strength,  and  impede  their  action, 
by  compressing  them.  Hence  no  one  too  tightly 
shod,  walks  either  with  elasticity  or  grace,  or  receives 
from  the  exercise  half  the  benefit  it  vyould  otherwise 
bestow.  In  truth,  he  is  often  injured  by  it.  That 
an  individual  may  mov^e  lightly  or  firmly  with  grace 
or  usefulness,  his  feet  must  be  springy  and  free. 
But  cramping  and  torturing  them  by  pressure,  does 
further  mischief.  It  produces,  sympathetically,  dys- 
pepsia and  headache,  and  sometimes  troublesome 
affections  of  the  breast.  Hemorrhagy  from  the  nos- 
trils and  lungs,  and  even  apoplexy  and  pulmonary 
consumption  are  occasionally  excited  by  it.  I  shall 
only  add,  that  tight  shoes  disfigure  the  foot.  The 
ancients  were  strangers  to  such  torturing  articles. 
Their  sandals  were  light  and  easy.  Hence  the  free 
and  elegant  form  of  their  feet.  This  is  seen  in  the 
Venus  de  Medici,  the  Perseus,  the  Anlinous,  the 
Apollo  Belvidere,  and  many  other  choice  relics  of 
antiquity.  Let  the  feet  of  those  statues  be  compared 
^ith  the  feet  of  elegantes  and  dandies,  of  the  pres- 


112  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

ent  day,  and  the  beauty  of  the  farmer  will  be  fotrnd 
to  be  transcendent. 

The  time  was,  but  has  fortunately  gone  by,  for 
the  present,  wlien  buckskin  inexpressibles,  far 
tighter  than  the  skins  of  those  whom  they  torment- 
ed, were  nearly  as  bad,  in  the  effects  they  produced. 
Though  not  equally  painftil,  they  were,  in  some  re- 
spects, even  more  annoying  and  discomfortable. 
The  first  *  trying-on'  of  those  articles^  in  which  the 
strength  and  skill  of  the  maker  of  them,  backed  by 
one  or  two  able-bodied  assistants,  were  indispensa- 
ble, was  a  fearful  job — especially  if  the  weather  had 
sudorific  qualiues  in  it.  And  when,  by  a  horse 
power  or  two,  the  garment  was  at  length  dragged 
hotne,  buttoned  ov6M'  the  knees,  and  strapped  round 
the  legs,  then  began  the  tug  for  molron.  The  vic- 
tim of  fashion  walked  as  if  some  of  hi^  joints  were 
anchylosed,  and  others  tightly  bandaged,  on  account 
of  recent  dislocation.  From  the  waist  downward, 
there  was  less  pliability  in  him  than  in  the  limbs  of 
a  centenarian,  or  a  i?:ourmand,  stiffened  by  chronic 
gout.  Nor  was  this  all.  His  blood,  being  denied  a 
free  passage,  in  a  downward  direction,  like  that  of 
the  Plantagenets,  '  mounted  *'  upwards,  made  \m 
neck  anci  face  swell,  and  his  eyes  protrude,  and 
turned  his  cheeks  as  red  as  the  gtlls  of  a  fish.  This 
inquisition-work,  long  persisted  in,  codd  not  fail  to  be 
productive  of  mischief.  The  whole,  however,  being 
an  act  of  homage,  at  the  shrine  of  fashion,  the  dandy 
submitted  to  it,  with  the  devotion  of  a  new-made 
saint,  and   tlie  imperturbable   firmness  of  a  martyr^ 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  113 

And,  to  test  to  the  uttermost  his  truth  and  constancy, 
getting  out  of  his  trammels,  was  sometimes  a  more 
awful  trial  than  getting  into  them. 

Most  earthly  things,  like  the  earth  herself  on  her 
axis,  whirl  in  a  circle.  Though  cramping  inexpres- 
sibles, therefore,  are  with  our  antipodes  now,  they 
will  no  doubt  come  back  again.  It  is,  therefore, 
that  I  have  thought  it  right  to  enter  ray  protest 
against  them.  They  are  a  sad  contrivance  in  phys- 
ical education. 

Tight  cravats,  by  preventing  a  full  flow  of  blood 
to  the  brain,  through  the  arteries,  and  retarding  its 
return,  by  the  veins,  do  mischief.  They  operate 
prejudiciously  in  several  ways.  That  they  com- 
press the  muscles  of  the  neck,  and  diminish  their 
size,  cannot  be  doubted.  Hence,  the  necks  of  the 
moderns,  who  wear  them,  are  smaller  and  less 
comely,  than  those  of  the  ancients,  to  whom  they 
were  unknown.  The  manly  and  elegant  form  and 
dinfiensions,  as  well  as  the  fine  attitude  and  bearing, 
of  the  necks  of  ancient  statues,  are  themes  of  univer^ 
sal  admiration  and  praise.  And  they  are,  no  doubt, 
chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  attributable  to  the  free 
and  uncompressed  condition  of  the  necks  of  their 
originals.  It  is  observed,  by  travellers,  that  the 
peasantry  of  Lombardy  have  finer  necks  than  any 
other  peasantry  in  Europe ;  and  they  wear  nothing 
round  them. 

The  diminution  of  the  size  of  the  neck,  however, 
is  neither  the  only,  nor  the  greatest  evil,  which  tight 
cravats  produce.     If,  in  any  case,  they  restrict  the 
10^  ^ 


114  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION', 

tiourishment  anil  vitaJization  of  the  brain,  by  witlif- 
holding  from  it  a  compelent  supply  of  arterial,  and 
too  long  retaining  in  it  an  accumdation  of  venous 
blood,  they  necessarily  weaken  the  operations  of  the 
mind.  This  is  as  certain,  as  that  the  reduction  of 
the  natural  flux  of  blood  to  a  muscle  lessens  its  vig- 
or. As  heretofore  slated,  the  vitality  of  the  brain  rs 
derived  from  the  arterial  blood  ;  and,  otlier  things 
being  equaf,  as  is  its  vitality,  so  is^  its  perfection,  as 
the  organ  of  the  mind.  Were  it  possible,  without 
doing  an  injury  to  other  parts,  to  augment  the  con- 
stant afflux  of  healthy  arterial  blood  to  the  brain, 
the  mental  operations  would  be  invigorated  by  it.  I 
state  this  opinion  confidently,  becau-se  we  often  wit- 
ness its  verification.  When  a  pubHc  speaker  is 
flushed  and  heated  in  debate,  his  mind  works  more 
freely  and  powerfully  than  at  any  other  time.  Why? 
Because  his  brain  is  in  better  tune.  What  has  thus 
suddenly  improved  its  condition?  An  increased 
current  of  blood  into  it,  produced  by  the  excitement 
of  its  own  increased  action.  That  the  blood  does, 
on  such  occasions,  flow  more  copiously  into  the 
brain,  no  one  can  doubt,  who  is  at  all  acquainted 
with  the  cerebral  sensations,  which  the  orator  him- 
self experiences  at  the  time,  or  who  witnesses  the 
unusual  fulness  and  flush  of  his  countenance,  the 
dewiness,  flashing,  and  protrusion  of  his  eye,  and 
the  throbbing  of  his  carotid  and  temporal  arteries. 
It  is  well  known,  that,  while  intensely  engaged  in  a 
memorable  debate,  last  winter,  in  Washington,  a 
distinguished  senator  became  so  giddy,  by  the  inor- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  115 

dinate  rushing  of  blood  into  his  brain,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  sit  down  ;  and  the  senate  adjourned,  to 
give  him  time  to  recover.  And,  more  recently,  a 
new  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  fell, 
while  speaking,  and  suddenly  expired  from  the  same 
cause.  A  member  of  the  Law  Class  of  Traubylva- 
nia,  moreover,  experienced,  a  few  weeks  ago,  a 
convulsive  affection,  from  a  congestion  of  blood  in 
the  head,  induced  by  excessive  excitement  of  the 
brain,  in  the  ardor  of  debate.  Nor  is  this  all.  In 
several  individuals,  whose  brain  had  been  denuded, 
.and  brought  into  view,  by  accident  or  disease,  the 
movement  and  swelling  of  the  organ  were  rendered 
palpable,  by  the  flux  of  blood  into  it,  during  intense 
feeling,  and  active  thought.  A  remarkable  case  of 
this  description,  occurred  in  Montpelier,  in  1822"; 
and  others,  somewhat  similar,  are  mentioned  by  Sir 
Astley  Cooper,  in  liis  Lectures  on  Surgery.  Had  T 
leisure,  and  were  itj;£^uisite,  1  could  cite  numerous 
instances  of  a  like  descrTj^ion.  Sudden  and  deep 
emotion,  as  well  as  the  vigorous  working  of  the  in- 
tellectual powers,  has  produced  phrenitis,  palsy,  and 
apoplexy,  by  a  superabundant  rushing  of  blood  into 
the  brain.  Inordinate  excitement,  of  whatever  kind 
it  may  be,  draws  an  unusual  amount  of  blood  into 
that  organ  ;  and  such  an  amount  is  essential  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  excitement  thus  brought  on. 

Believing  that  a  cravat  had  a  bad  effect  on  the 
operations  of  his  mind,  Lord  Byron  never  wore  one. 
Report  indeed  says,  that  his  reason  for  this  was,  his 
desire  to  show  his  neck  uncovered,  on   accoiint  of 


'v^ 


116  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

its  uncommon  beauty.  Tl)is,  however,  is  probably, 
but  a  petty  slander.  His  motives  were  best  known 
to  himself.  Nor  can  any  one  doubt,  that  immoder- 
ate compression  of  the  neck  does  mischief.  Head- 
ache, impaired  vision,  and  hemorrhagy  from  the 
nose,  are  among  its  effects.  So,  we  are  told,  is 
apoplexy. 

An  article  of  dress  remains  to  be  noticed,  which 
is  immeasurably  worse,  in  its  effects,  than  all  those 
whose  influence  I  have  considered.  Motives  of 
prudence,  if  not  of  gallantry,  might  impose  silence 
on  me  respecting  it,  did  not  a  regard  for  truth  and 
duty,  and  a  wish  to  be  useful,  invoke  me  to  speak 
out.  The  article  makes  a  part  of  the  apparel^  I 
may  not  say  the  ornament  of  woman,  whose  delica- 
cy I  would,  in  no  case,  willingly  offend,  and  whose 
displeasure  I  would  never  intentionally  incur,  except 
in  an  effort  to  do  her  good.  It  is  probably  already 
conjectured,  that  my  allusion  is  to  corsets.  If  so, 
the  conjecture  is  correqt.  I  do  allude  to  corsets, 
and  pronounce  them,  most  seriously,  an  alarming 
evil.  The  crippling  machinery,  with  which  the 
females  of  China  compress  and  disfigure  their  feet 
and  ancles,  making  the  former  too  small,  and  the  lat- 
ter too  thick  and  clumsy,  are  innocent  to  them. 
Corsets  compress  and  disfigure  a  portion  of  the  sys- 
tem infinitely  more  important,  than  the  mere  termin- 
ation of  the  lower  extremities.  While  the  Pagan 
ladies,  confine  their  attack  to  the  out-posts  of  life, 
the  fair  Christians  assault  the  citadel.  By  curtailing 
the  dimensions  of  two  of  the  great  cavities  of  the 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  IIT 

body,  corsets  obstruct  the  growth,  and  impair  the 
functions  of  the  organs  they  contain.  And  it  has 
been  aheady  stated,  that  these  are  among  the  gov- 
erning organs  of  the  hody,  whose  injury  or  unsound 
condition  proves  prejudical  to  every  other  portion  of 
it.  I  allude  to  the  stomach,  liver,  and  all  the  other 
chyle-making  and  chyle-carrying  viscera,  and  to  the 
heart,  lungs,  and  large  hlood-ves^els.  These  are  all 
compressed  and  deranged  in  their  functions,  and 
most  of  them  reduced  in  their  size,  removed  from 
their  places,  and  altered  in  their  shape,  by  tight  cor- 
setting.  It  is  in  vain  to  deny  the  truth  of  this,  as  an 
excuse  for  disregarding  the  warning  it  imparts.  The 
fact  can  be,  and  has  repeatedly  been  demonstrated, 
in  anatomical  researches.  I  shall  exhibit  to  you, 
presently,  satisfactory  proof  of  it. 

To  secure  to  adult  females  what  are  called  fine 
figures -^- which  mean  waists,  shoulders,  and  hips, 
quite  out  of  symmetry  with  each  other,  and  with  the 
rest  of  the  body — the  corset-screws  are  applied  to 
them,  while  they  are  yoimg  girls,  their  whole  sys- 
tems being  tender,  and  their  hones  comparatively 
soft  and  flexible.  The  consequence  is,  that,  when 
the  lacing  is  tight  —  and  it  is  always  too  tight,  for 
there  should  be  none  at  all  of  it  —  tlieir  ribs,  espe- 
cially the  false  ones,  are  pressed  inwardly,  to  such  an 
extent,  that  their  front  ends  nearly  touch  each  other, 
if  they  do  not  actually  overlap  ;  whereas,  in  their 
natural  position,  they  are  wide  apart.  Even  the 
upper  ribs  are,  at  times,  so  pressed  on,  as  to  be  flat- 
tened, or  rather  straightened,  in  their  lateral  arches, 


118  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

and  protruded  forward,  carrying  along  with  them  the 
breast-bone,  to  which  they  are  attached.  Thus  is 
the  whole  trunk  of  the  body  altered^  in  its  figure  and 
dimensions,  but  not  improved.  Far  from  it.  All  is 
for  the  worse,  as  well  in  appearance,  as  effect. 
The  abdominal  cavity,  being,  in  this  way,  preternat- 
urally  straightened  in  a  horizontal  direction,  its  vis- 
cera are  pressed  inordinately  upward  against  the  di- 
aphragm. That  membrane  being  thus  forced  up- 
ward also,  compresses,  in  its  turn,  the  lungs,  heart, 
and  large  blood-vessels,  and  brings  them  more  or 
less  into  collision  with  the  thoracic  duct,  obstructing 
in  some  degree  the  movement  of  the  chyle.  In  this 
forced  and  unnatural  condition  of  things,  all  the  func- 
tions of  these  viscera,  so  fundamentally  necessary, 
pot  merely  to  the  well-being  of  the  system,  but  its 
very  existence,  are  deranged  by  compression.  Let 
us  glance,  in  detail,  at  the  mass  of  mischief  thence 
arising. 

The  whole  digestive  apparatus  being  impaired  in 
its  action,  dyspeptic  affections  follow;  neither  is  a 
sufficient  amount  of  wholesome  chyle  formod,  nor  of 
bile  secreted,  both  of  which  are  so  indispensable  to 
a  sound  state  of  the  blood,  and  in  other  respects  so 
important  to  the  system  ;  and  the  sympathetic  influ- 
ence of  the  unhealthy  organs,  on  the  other  parts  of 
the  body,  is  rendered  deleterious.  Add  to  this,  that 
the  compressed  organs  themselves,  being  weakened, 
are  unusually  liable  to  further  disease,  from  the  ac- 
tion of  any  morbific  cause. 

The  lungs  being  enfeebled  and  deranged,  not  only 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  119 

is  respiration  defective,  and  the  blood  imperfectly 
matured  and  vitalized,  but  they  themselves,  in  com- 
mon with  the  stomach,  liver,  and  other  associated 
parts,  are  in  a  state  of  increased  liability  to  additional 
suffering.  Hence  homopthisis,  pulmonary  consump- 
tion, and  dropsy  of  the  chest  often  ensue.  I  knew 
a  young  female  of  some  distinction,  as  respected 
both  her  mind  and  family,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
who,  some  years  ago,  became  known,  from  tight  cor- 
setting,  by  the  name  of  the  *  Lady  with  the  small 
waist !'  Notwithstanding  her  good  sense  in  other 
things,  ibis  excited  her  ambition  to  render  herself 
still  more  worthy  of  the  tkle,  and  to  prevent,  if  pos- 
sible, in  others,  all  competition  for  it.  She  therefore 
increased  the  tightness  of  her  corsets,  until  she  be- 
came hump-shouldered,  and  died  in  consumption. 
Nor  did  any  one  doubt  tliat  iier  corsets  were  the 
cause.  She  was  married,  and  left  an  infant  son, 
who,  from  the  slenderness  of  his  frame,  and  the  del- 
icacy of  his  constitution,  is  threatened  with  his  moth- 
er's complaint.  He  inherits  her  corset-broken  con- 
stitinion. 

Of  the  heart,  the  same  is  true.  From  its  com- 
pressed and  debilitated  condition,  it  becomes  affected 
with  palpitation,  dropsy,  inflammation,  or  some  other 
malady  —  perhaps  aneurism — and  is  incompetent 
to  the  vigorous  circulation  of  the  blood.  Hence 
every  portion  of  the  system  suffers  —  the  brain  and 
nerves  not  excepted,  they  depending,  like  other 
organs,  on  the  arterial  blood,  for  tlieir  health  and 
power  of  action.     Even  the   nerves  of  the   organs 


^^f  • 


120  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

subjected  lo  pressure  are  mechanically  injured.  Since 
the  introduction  of  corsets,  as  an  article  of  dress, 
diseases  of  the  heart,  among  females,  are  much  more 
frequent  than  formerly  ;  and  they  have  been  traced 
to  that  cause,  in  innumerable  instances.  Cases  of 
the  kind  could  be  easily  cited.  Respecting  schir- 
rous  and  cancerous  affections  of  the  breasts,  in  wo- 
men advanced  in  life,  the  same  is  true.  Those 
complaints  are  far  more  prevalent  now,  than  they 
were  before  the  present  ruinous  style  of  lacing. 

From  the  foregoing  view  of  their  destructive  ef- 
fects on  the  female  system,  added  to  another,  which 
motives   of  delicacy  forbids  me  to  mention,^  it  is 

*  My  allusion  will  be  readily  understood  to  be  to  that  dimi- 
nution of  the  abdominal  cavit}^  which  prevents  the  full  ex- 
pansion of  the  gravid  uterus.  This  necessarily  diminishes  the 
size  and  vigor  of  the  foetus,  in  a  corresponding  degree,  and 
implants  in  it  the  elements  of  future  disease.  For  unnatural 
compression  can  scarcely  injure  it  less  before  birth,  than  after 
it.  Premature  parturition,  is  often  the  effect  of  this  forced 
and  restricted  condition  of  the  organs. 

Let  me  not  be  told,  that  females  lay  aside  their  corsets,  or 
loosen  them  greatly,  during  testation.  That  matters  but  little. 
The  damage  is  already  done,  and  cannot  be  repaired.  The 
diminution,  I  mean,  of  the  abdominal  cavity  is  already  produced, 
and  Tendered  permnnenfy  by  the  pressure  of  the  ribs  inwardly, 
and  their  having  become  fully  ossified,  and  fixed  in  that  posi- 
tion. So  confident  were  the  Spartans  of  the  importance  at- 
tached to  the  full  dimension  of  the  abdominal  cavity  of  fe- 
males, that  they  prescribed,  by  law,  the  form  of  dress  they 
were  to  wear,  during  pregnancy ;  and  its  leading  feature  wa» 
its  looseness,  that  it  might  produce  no  injurious  pressure.  I 
need  scarcely  add,  that  the  Spartans  surpassed  the  other  inhab- 
itant? of  Greece,  in  their  size,  strength,  and  hardihood,  as  well 
as  in  their  fine  personal  proportions. 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  121 

neither  unjust  nor  extravagant,  to  say  of  corsets, 
tliat  they  threaten  a  degeneracy  of  the  human  race. 
And,  were  they  worn  by  all  females,  as  they  are  by 
many,  they  would  as  certainly  produce  it,  as  an 
impaired  fruit-tree  yields  faded  fruit — and  on  the 
same  ground.  The  descendants  of  tight-corsetting 
mothers^  will  never  become  the  luminaries  and  leaders 
oj  the  world.  The  mothers  of  Alexander  and 
Hannibal,  Caesar  and  Napoleon,  never  distorted 
their  persons  by  such  a  practice.  Nor  is  the  whole 
mischief  of  those  articles  yet  summed  up. 

The  straightness  of  the  spinal  column  depends  on 
the  strength  of  the  muscles  that  support  it.  But 
those  muscles  are  enfeeRled  by  the  pressure  of  cor- 
sets. Hence  the  spine  bends  and  becomes  distorted. 
Instances  of  crooked  spine  have  been  fearfully  mul- 
tiplied in  the  fashionable  female  circles  of  Europe 
and  America,  since  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century  ;  while  in  Greece,  Turkey,  Persia,  Arabia, 
and  other  parts  of  Asia,  as  well  as  in  Africa,  where 
no  tight  forms  of  dress  are  thought  of,  it  is  almost 
unknown.  Nor  does  it  appear  among  our  own 
countrywomen,  whose  persons  are  suffered  to  retain 

An  agriculturist  has  a  stock  of  beautiful  and  valuable  horses. 
What  effect  would  he  produce  on  their  progeny,  by  so  band- 
aging the  females,  when  young,  as  to  take  from  their  abdomi- 
nal cavities  a  third  of  their  size  ?— I  answer,  deep  deteriora- 
tion. Nor  is  that  produced  on  the  human  family,  by  a  similar 
practice,  less  striking.  Were  the  higher  classes  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Europe  larger  and  stronger,,  a  few  centuries  ago,  than 
they  are  now  ?  They  were  not  the  descendants  of  corsetted 
mothers. 

11 


122  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  shape,  which  God  intended  for  them.  This 
breach  of  his  law,  therefore,  inflicts  the  penalty  in- 
curred by  the  fault. 

It  appears,  from  actual  computation,  that,  of  the 
females,  who  have  been  accustomed,  from  early  life, 
to  tight  corsetting,  nearly  one  fourth  have  some  un- 
natural and  disfiguring  flexure  of  the  spine  !  By  not 
a  few  observers  and  calculators,  the  proportion  is 
maintained  to  be  much  greater.  A  Scottish  gentle- 
man, of  distinction,  assures  us,  that  he  has  examined 
about  two  hundred  young  females,  in  fashionable 
boarding-schools,  and  that  scarcely  one  of  them  was 
free  from  some  sort  of  corset-injury.  .  Those,  whose 
spines  were  not  distorted,  had  unsightly  effects  pro- 
duced on  their  shoulder-blades,  collar-bones,  or 
some  other  part  of  the  chest,  which  stuffing  and 
wadding  would  be  requisite  to  conceal.  Some  were 
hunch-backed,  and,  in  not  a  few,  one  shoulder  was 
higher  than  the  other  ;  effects,  which,  in  our  own 
country,  are  much  more  frequent,  than  is  generally 
suspected.  In  no  individual,  was  true  personal 
symmetry  amended  by  the  practice  ;  while,  in  almost 
every  one  it  was  impaired,  and,  in  many,  destroyed. 
In  fact,  such  pressure  cannot  fail  to  injure  the  sym- 
metry of  the  trunk,  that  being  its  direct  tendency. 
The  custom,  therefore,  is  as  foreign  from  correct 
taste,  as  from  sound  philosophy  —  and  I  was  near 
saying,  from  humanity  and  moral  rectitude. 

Woman  was  not  intended  to  be  turned,  by  artifi- 
cial means,  into  an  insect,  with  broad  square  shoul- 
ders, and  a  spindle  waist.     The  latter  portion  of 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  .         123 

her  body  was  designed  to  be  something  more  than 
skin  and  bone.  For  her  benefit  as  well  as  for  the 
elegance  of  her  form,  nature  has  surrounded  it  with 
substantial  muscles,  and  cellular  tissue,  which  ought 
not  to  be  sported  with  and  wasted,  in  comphance 
with  fashion  and  a  spurious  taste.  And  she  may 
rest  assured,  that  she  is  not  only  more  healthy,  vig- 
orous, and  comfortable,  but  also  an  object  of  greater 
attraction,  with  a  flexible  and  fleshy,  than  with  a 
shrivelled,  stiffened,  and  skinny  waist.  Nor  are  the 
female  shoulders  broad  and  square,  by  nature^  which 
alone  gives  patterns  of  real  beauty.  An  attempt  to 
render  them  so,  by  art,  therefore,  is  equally  repug- 
nant to  correct  taste,  and  sound  judgment.  Yet, 
such  is  the  effect  of  tight  corsetting.  Preventing  the 
blood  from  circulating  freely  through  the  muscles  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  trunk,  or  rather  of  its  middle, 
it  throws  it  into  those  of  its  upper  portion,  preternat- 
urally  nourishing  and  enlarging  them,  and  raising  and 
squaring  the  shoulders,  and  rendering  them  pointed. 
The  mere  mechanical  action  of  corsets  contributes 
to  the  latter  effect,  by  forcing  upward  the  muscles 
of  the  chest,  together  with  the  upper  ribs,  shoulder- 
blades,  and  collar-bones.  And  time  renders  the 
deformity  permanent.  No  woman,  who  has  worn 
tight  corsets,  from  her  girlhood,  has,  or  ever  will 
have,  those  important  parts  of  her  frame  in  their 
proper  places:  they  are  all  more  or  less  dislocated; 
and  the  effect  produced,  is  a  direct  deviation  from 
beauty  of  form.  Burke,  in  speaking  of  the  fascinat- 
ing elegance  of  the  female  bust,  in  his  treatise  on 


124        .  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  '  Sublime  and  Beautiful,'  gives  a  description  of 
it  extremely  different  from  the  bust  of  a  well-corset- 
ted  fashionable,  of  the  present  day.  His  just  and 
glowing  picture  is  made  up  entirely  of  easy  slopes 
and  graceful  curve  lines.  We  have  too  much  now 
of  points,  angles,  and  masculine  squarenesses.  Yet 
the  female  figure,  when  not  put  out  of  shape,  is  as 
beautiful  now  as  it  was  then.  Independently  of  the 
injury  done  to  health,  the  personal  disfiguration  pro- 
duced by  tight  corsets,  hogshead  skirts,  and  shoulder 
balloons,  is  a  lasting  reproach  on  the  taste  of  the 
times. 

It  is  to  man,  that  nature  has  given  broad,  square, 
and  brawny  shoulders,  and  a  waist  comparatively 
narrow.  And,  so  far  as  tight  corsets  and  other  arti- 
cles of  dress  may  avail,  woman  is  usurping  his 
figure.  I  need  scarcely  add,  that,  in  grace  and 
beauty  of  person,  which  confer  on  her  much  of  her 
attractiveness  and  power,  and  should  therefore  be 
among  the  cherished  objects  of  her  ambition,  she  is 
losing  greatly  by  the  change.  Man  submits  to 
woman,  and  courts  her  approbation  and  smiles ;  his 
best  affections  cling  to  her,  and  his  arm  and  life 
protect  her,  on  account  of  her  womanly  qualities. 
Any  thing  masculine  in  her,  excites  his  dissatisfac- 
tioriy  not  to  give  the  feeling  a  stronger  name.  And 
broad,  square  shoulders  are  masculine,  suited  only 
to  a  man,  and  a  virago.  There  is  in  them  nothing 
of  that  delicacy,  appeal  for  protection,  and  all-sub- 
duing loveliness,  which  we  instinctively  attach  to  the 
w ox di  feminine.     Instead  of  doing  aught,  therefore, 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  125 

to  create  in  herself  such  a  form  of  person,  woman 
should  shun  it,  as  she  would  deformity,  of  any  other 
kind. 

T  have  said  that  tight  corsetting,  obstructing  the 
free  passage  of  the  blood  downward,  throws  it  into 
the  superior  portion  of  the  trunk.  But  it  does  more  ; 
it  forces  it,  in  preternatural  quantities,  but  impaired 
in  quality,  into  the  head,  and  produces  there,  many 
forms  of  disease  that  are  painful  and  annoying,  and 
some  that  are  dangerous.  Among  these  are  head- 
ache, giddiness,  bleeding  from  the  nose,  imperfect 
vision  and  other  affections  of  the  eyes,  noise  in  the 
ears,  convulsions,  and  apoplexy.  Fainting  is  an- 
other effect  of  this  preternatural  accumulation  of 
blood  in  the  brain,  the  reason  of  which  is  plain. 
While  the  corsets  are  on  and  laced,  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  blood  is  sent  to  the  brain,  to  enable  that 
organ  to  sustain,  by  its  influence,  the  heart  and  mus- 
cles of  voluntary  motion,  and  hold  them  to  their  func- 
tions. As  soon,  however,  as  the  corsets  are  unlaced, 
the  blood  forsakes  the  brain,  in  part,  and  flows  natur- 
ally through  its  downward  channels.  The  conse- 
quence is  obvious.  The  brain  being  thus  enfeebled, 
for  want  of  the  blood  necessary  for  its  vhality,  and 
the  functions  it  performs,  and  its  invigorating  influ- 
ence being  no  longer  extended  to  the  system  gener- 
ally, the  heart  and  muscles  fail  in  their  action,  and 
the  individual  faints.  This  occurrence  takes  place 
on  the  same  ground  with  fainting  from  venesection, 
or  any  other  form  of  hemorrhagy.  Too  much  blood 
is  withdrawn  from  the  brain.     That  viscus  is  de-- 


126 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATIOrr, 


privedj  of  course^  of  much  of  its  own  vitality  and 
power  to  act.  Nor  is  this  all.  It  is  deprived,  also, 
of  much  of  the  material,  from  which  it  prepares  its 
sustaining  influence,  for  the  body  generally.  For 
whatever  the  matter  of  cerebral  influence  may  be, 
it  is  prepared  from  the  blood,  as  certainly  as  bile  and 
saliva  are. 

Almost  all  females  who  lace  tightly,  complain  of 
weakness,  when  their  corsets  are  removed ;  and 
many  of  them  are  obliged  to  assume  a  horizontal 
posture,  to  escape  asphyxia.  Worse  still.  Some 
are  compelled  to  wear  their  corsets,  as  a  part  of  their 
night-dress !  Even  a  horizontal  posture,  does  not 
secure  them  from  a  tendency  to  faint.  This  is  so 
deplorable  a  condition,  that  the  practice  which  in- 
duces it,  involves  criminality.  Many  acts  are  called 
felonious,  and  made  punishable  by  law,  which,  con- 
trasted with  it,  are  innocent.  By  permitting  it, 
parents,  especially  mothers,  assume  a  responsibility, 
which  might  well  make  them  tremble.  They  are 
accessory  to  its  consequences,  however  fatal.  In- 
deed, possessing,  as  they  do,  full  powers  of  preven- 
tion, they  should  be  considered  principals. 

Perhaps  all  females,  who  wear  corsets,  though 
they  may  not  faint  on  removing  them,  nor  even  feel 
a  tendency  to  that  effect,  complain  of  uneasiness  and 
debility  in  the  back,  or  some  other  part  of  the  trunk. 
The  reason  is  plain.  The  muscles  of  the  part  being 
weakened  by  pressure,  require  the  continuance  of  it, 
as  the  sot  does  the  stimulus  of  his  dram,  to  give 
them  tone  and    strength  sufficient    to  sustain   the 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  127 

weight  of  the  body,  in  an  erect  position.  Hence  the 
individual  bends  the  trunk  ungracefully  ;  and,  unless 
vigor  of  the  muscles  be  restored,  she  is  threatened 
with  a  spinal  curvature.  ^ 

Even  beauty  of  countenance  is  impaired,  and,  in 
time,  destroyed,  by  tight  corsets.  Do  you  ask  me 
in  what  way  ?  I  answer,  that  those  instruments  of 
mischief  wither  in  the  complexion,  the  freshness  of 
health,  and  substitute  for  it  the  sallowness  of  dis- 
ease—  on  the  spots,  where  the  rose  and  the  ruby 
had  shed  their  lustre,  they  pour  bile,  and  sprinkle 
ashes.  They  do  still  more,  and  worse.  They  dap- 
ple the  cheek  with  unsightly  blotches,  convert  its 
fine  cuticle  into  a  motley  scurf,  blear  the  eyes,  dis- 
color the  teeth,  and  dissolve  them  by  caries,  and  tip 

*  Many  women  of  intelligence  and  experience  are  inclined 
to  believe,  that  some  form  of  bracing  around  the  female  waist 
is,  if  not  essential,  highly  useful,  in  giving  support  to  the  body, 
and  maintaining  its  erect  posture.  This  is  a  mistake.  Such 
artificial  support  is  required,  only  as  a  consequence  of  disease, 
or  from  the  debilitated  condition  of  the  muscles,  by  previous 
tight  lacing.      Tj^ue^-— Uiejnusc^ 

bier  than  those  of  the  male^  But,  corresponding  to  this,  the 
weight  of  the^ody  is  less.  In  consequence  of  iliis  Jltness, 
the  trunk  of  woman  requires,  by  nature,  no  more  artificial  aid 
to  keep  it  straight,  than  the  trunk  of  man.  Hence  the  elegance 
of  the  female  form,  in  Georgia,  Circasia,  and  other  parts  of 
Asia,  where  tightness  of  dress  is  unfashionable  and  unknown. 
The  necessity  of  corsets,  therefore,  to  sustain  the  person,  arises 
from  the  misfortune  of  having  ever  worn  them.  And,  unless 
the  practice  be  abandoned,  that  misfortune,  like  other  consti- 
tutional defects,  will  pass  from  mother  to  daughter,  in  an  in- 
creasing ratio,  until  it  shall  result  in  a  fearful  degeneracy  of 
our  race. 


128  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  nose  with  cranberry  red.  That  effects  of  this 
description  often  result  from  gastric  and  hepatic  de- 
rangement, every  practitioner  of  medicine  knows. 
And  it  has  been  already  shown,  that  such  derange- 
ment is  produced  by  corsets. 

But  those  articles  make  still  more  fatal  havoc  of 
female  beauty,  by  imprinting  on  the  countenance  — 
not  premature  wrinkles  —  that  could  be  borne  —  but 
marks  of  the  decay  o^  mental  beauty  —  1  mean  deep 
and  indelible  lines  of  peevishness,  fretfulness,  and 
ill-temper,  the  bitter  result  of  impaired  health.  No 
form  of  indisposition  so  incurably  ruins  the  temper  of 
woman,  as  that  which  prematurely  destroys  her  beau- 
ty, especially  if  she  feels  conscious  that  her  own  in- 
discretions have  been  instrumental  in  Us  production. 
To  the  truth  of  this,  experience  testifies.  Indepen- 
dently, moreover,  oftheir  cause,  no  other  complaints 
pour  into  the  temper  such  acerbity  and  bitterness,  as 
those  of  the  digestive  organs.  This  is  also  the  re- 
sult of  experience.  Man,  but  more  especially  wo- 
man, bears  fever,  pulmonary  consumption,  fractures, 
wounds,  and  other  forms  of  injury  and  disease,  with 
a  patience  and  mildness,  which,  if  they  do  not  im- 
prove her  personal  beauty,  increase  her  loveliness, 
and  add  tenfold  to  the  sympathy  and  sorrow  felt  for 
her  suffering.  But  dyspeptic  affections,  especially, 
I  repeat,  if  a  busy  and  tormenting  consciousness 
whispers  hourly  into  her  ear,  that  she  has  herself 
contributed  to  their  production,  by  a  practice  she 
might  have  avoided,  and  of  the  ruinous  effects  of 
which  she  was  repeatedly  warned  — complaints  of 
this  description  are  submitted  to,  by  her,  in  a  differ- 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION,  129 

ent  spirit.  She  becomes  irritable,  capricious,  gloomy, 
and  full  of  complaints  and  fearful  imaginings.  Un- 
happy in  herself,  she  seems,  in  contradiction  with 
her  nature,  to  forget  or  disregard  the  happiness  of 
others,  and  does  not  even  shrink  from  proving  the 
bane  of  it.  1  intend  not  these  remarks,  as  a  censure 
on  woman.  Far  from  it.  I  mean  them  as  a  denun- 
ciation—  and  would  that  it  were  exterminating — of 
the  abominable  practice,  that  destroys  her  peace, 
and  mars  her  loveliness. 

Under  this  head,  I  shall  only  add,  that,  in  the 
higher  walks  of  life,  our  fair  countrywomen,  espe- 
cially in  the  Southern  States,  are  more  delicate  and 
feeble  in  constitution,  and  therefore  less  robust  in 
health,  than  they  are  in  Europe —  more  so,  certainly, 
than  they  are  in  Great  Britain,  France,  or  Germany. 
The  slenderness  of  their  frames,  and  the  semi-pal- 
lidness of  their  complexions  testify  to  this.  It  is 
noticed  by  all  strangers  of  observation,  and  cannot 
be  otherwise  regarded,  than  as  an  evil,  ominous  of 
the  degeneracy  of  our  descendants.  Women  con- 
stitutionally feeble  cannot  be  the  mothers  of  a  vig- 
orous offspring.  There  is  reason  to  fear,  that  this 
fragile  delicateness  will,  by  means  of  a  spurious 
taste,  pass  into  an  element  of  female  beauty,  in  the 
United  States  ;  and  that  will  render  it  a  national 
evil  to  endure  for  ages.  That  this  will  be  the  case, 
is  not  to  be  doubted,  unless  the  proper  remedy  be 
applied.  Nor  is  that  remedy  unknown,  of  difficult 
application,  or  dubious  effect.  It  consists  in  a  well- 
directed  physical  education.  That  that  will  remove 
the  evil,  appears  from  the  fact,  that  the  females  of  our 


130 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 


country,  in  the  middle  and  lower  ranks  of  life,  who 
take  sufficient  exercise  in  the  open  air,  and  do  not 
injure  ihenriselves  by  their  modes  of  dress,  are  as 
heahhy  and  vigorous  as  any  in  the  world.  No  man 
of  taste  wishes  to  see  our  highly-cultivated  women, 
with  milk-maid  complexions,  or  harvest-field  persons. 
But  had  they  a  little  more  of  both  than  they  now 
possess,  they  would  be  not  only  more  comfortable 
in  themselves,  but  more  lovely  in  the  eyes  of  others. 
In  the  European  countries  referred  to,  cultivated  fe- 
males neither  house  themselves  so  much,  nor  marry 
at  so  early  an  age,  as  they  do  in  the  United  States. 
Hence  their  health  is  better,  and  their  frames  stronger. 


No.  I. 


No.  II. 


Before  I  close  my  discourse,  allow  me  to  exhibit 
to  you  two  figures.     No.  I.  is   a  correct  outline  of 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  131 

the  Venus  de  Medici,  the  beau  iWeaZ  of  female  sym- 
metry, and  No.  II.  that  of  a  well-corsetted  modern 
beauty.  And  it  might  be  sufficient  comment,  sim- 
ply to  say,  *  Look  on  this  picture,  and  on  this.'  One 
has  an  artificial  insect  waist.;  the  other  the  natural 
waist  of  woman.  One  has  sloping  and  graceful 
shoulders;  while  the  shoulders  of  the  other  are 
comparatively  elevated,  square,  and  angular.  The 
proportion  of  the  corsetted  female  below  the  waist 
is  also  a  departure  from  the  symmetry  of  nature. 

Suppose  two  statues,  as  large  as  life,  accurately 
executed,  one  of  them  resembling  the  ancient,  and 
the  other  the  modern  beauty ;  which  would  be  pre- 
ferred, even  by  the  taste  of  the  present  day  }  The 
question  requires  no  reply.  A  suitable  answer  rises 
spontaneously  in  the  mind  of  every  one.  The  mod- 
ern statue  would  be  pronounced  '  deformity'  —  per- 
haps a  '  fright  ^'  the  other  a  miracle  of  beauty.  And 
the  decision  would  be  just. 

I  know  of  but  one  other  custom,  so  perfectly  cal- 
culated to  produce  a  degeneracy  of  the  human  race, 
as  that  of  contracting  the  dimensions  of  the  waist 
of  woman,  weakening  her  constitution,  and  distorting 
her  spine ;  and  even  that  is,  in  some  respects,  less 
injurious.  I  allude  to  the  practice  of  the  Caribs, 
the  most  brutal  and  ferocious  tribe  of  American  In- 
dians, in  flattening  their  heads.  Nor  does  the  cus- 
tom of  the  savage  produce  deformity  more  real,  than 
that  of  the  civilized  and  fashionable  female.  Yet 
the  effects  of  the  one  are  looked  on  with  professed 
admiration ;  while  those  of  the  other  are  regarded 


132  PHYSICAL    EDUCATION. 

with  horror.  Compared  to  either  of  them,  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Chinese  ladies,  as  ah*eady  stated,  in  dis- 
figuring their  feet  and  ancles,  is  taste  and  innocence. 

Finally. — One  of  the  leading  benefits  to  be  be- 
stowed on  our  race,  by  Physical  Education  judicious- 
ly practised,  and  carried  to  the  requisite  extent,  is 
the  production  and  preservation  of  a  well-adjusted 
balance,  not  only  between  the  different  portions  of 
the  braiuj  but  of  the  whole  body.  Few  persons,  if 
any  at  all,  bring  into  life  with  them,  a  system  per- 
fectly balanced,  in  all  its  parts.  Some  organs  pre- 
dominate in  size  and  strength,  while  others  are  com- 
paratively small  and  feeble.  This  is  a  tendency  to 
disease,  and  can  be  removed  or  amended,  only  by 
competent  training.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten,  that 
the  proper  exercise  of  a  part,  and  that  alone,  in- 
creases both  its  bulk  and  power,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  diminishes  any  excess  of  sensitiveness  it  may 
possess.  And  this  is  precisely  what  small  and  feeble 
parts  require,  to  place  them  on  a  par  with  others, 
and  secure  their  health.  To  illustrate  my  meaning, 
and  show  it  to  be  true  : — 

Is  the  chest  of  a  boy  narrow,  and  are  his  lungs 
weak  and  irritable  ?  Let  those  parts  be  habitually 
exercised,  according  to  the  directions  already  given, 
and  such  a  change  may  be  produced  in  him,  as  will 
give  an  equipoise  to  his  body,  and  prevent  disease. 
His  chest  and  lungs  may  be  enlarged,  not  a  little, 
and  as  well  secured  from  complaints,  as  his  other 
organs.  .  From  the  free  and  constant  exercise  which 
their  calling   gives  to   their  arms,  shoulders,  and 


\ 


PHYSICAL    EDUCATION.  133 

thotacic  walls  and  viscera.  London  boatmen  have 
large  chests,  and  are  strangers  to  consumption.  The 
loud  and  habitual  call,  moreover,  by  which  they  an- 
nounce their  business  and  solicit  employment,  aids 
in  the  development  and  strengthening  of  their  lungs. 
From  these  causes,  though  perpetually  exposed  to 
the  damp  and  chilling  air  of  the  Thames,  they  rarely 
experience  any  form  of  pectoral  disease. 

Of  every  small  and  feeble  part  of  the  system,  the 
same  is  true.  A  judicious  scheme  of  training  will 
enlarge  and  strengthen  it.  But  hereditary  predis- 
position to  disease  is  nothing  else  than  the  want  of 
an  equipoise  between  all  the  different  portions  of 
the  body.  Some  organs  being  comparatively  weak 
and  sensitive,  are  prematurely  prone  to  actual  de- 
rangement. By  well  directed  exercise,  therefore, 
continued  through  successive  generations,  may  every 
predisposition  of  the  kind  be  eradicated. 

Such  is  the  best  outline  of  my  views  of  Physical 
Education,  that  my  other  engagements  have  allowed 
me  to  prepare.  Sensible  of  its  imperfections,  but 
unable  at  present  to  remove  or  lessen  them,  I  must 
throw  it,  for  acceptance,  on  the  indulgence  of  those 
to  whom  it  has  been  presented. 
12 


(J) 


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